Three Days in Darkness
by Malkuthe
Summary: Taking place right after the events of the Blood of Olympus, Three Days in Darkness tackles the three days that Nico di Angelo spends in the infirmary in a different light. It is based on a single premise: Will Solace is every bit as, if not more self-conscious than Nico. It is part of a tale called At the Break of Dawn that explores the development of their relationship over time.
1. Watching from a Distance

**A/N: **Hello there! This is the first story that I'm publishing on . It's part of a really big series. The majority of its chapters are posted to a different website, namely Archive of Our Own. However, for this particular story, I'm posting the remastered chapters of Three Days in Darkness, whereas the chapters posted to AO3 haven't yet been given a second editing pass. They _will_ be updated at the same time as my chapters, but if you'd like, you can read the rest of the series over there.

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><p>Nico di Angelo. It was a name that rolled off of Will Solace's tongue so smoothly and easily. Anyone with two ears and a brain between them would have been able to tell that the feelings that dwelt in his chest were far more than just mere friendship. Will Solace wanted to know Nico di Angelo in the way that <em>only<em> a lover could.

Will was disappointed. Yet, a part of him was relieved when Nico asked for a moment to talk to Percy and Annabeth. He didn't know why the boy went to talk to the two demigods, though he should not have found it strange. Nico and the two were friends, after all.

Will watched the three with longing. There were so many things that he did not know about Nico di Angelo. There were so many things that he _wanted_ to know about Nico.

There were days when Will had to wonder whether it was Aphrodite or the Fates being exceptionally cruel, but one thing was for sure: over the years, despite the son of Hades' merely fleeting presence in the camp, Will had fallen for Nico. It was the most intense and powerful crushes that he'd ever had, and it didn't seem to be fading one bit.

Will looked down at his hands. They were trembling. He despised those hands. Incapable of wielding a bow, or using any of his father's other gifts. He could work healing miracles with his hands, but he could do only that: heal.

One of Will's feet was tapping incessantly on the ground in front of his cabin. He looked at his leg. "_Now_ _I can keep a proper beat?_" he noted bitterly. "_That's just great._" He clutched his thigh with one hand, trying to make it stop, although the efficacy of the action was doubtful..

The hand on Will's thigh was all he could do to stop his knees from knocking together, too. His show of bluster and confidence around Nico was all just that: a show. Truthfully, Nico terrified him, but not for the reasons that Nico would probably think.

Will was one of the few people in the camp that didn't fear Nico for his heritage, or his dark powers. He admired those things about Nico. He admired the fact that despite being a son of Hades, Nico had been noble and had come to the rescue of the camp time and again without second thought.

Simply put, Will Solace was afraid of Nico's rejection.

Will groaned in exasperation. His trembling was not subsiding. He could tell that soon enough, his entire body would be shaking from the nervousness. He didn't want Nico to see him like this. He thrust his hands into his pockets.

That didn't work. A moment later, it became clear that there wasn't much sense keeping Will's hands in his pockets. He brought them back out. His palms were sweaty. His face felt hot. He tugged at his collar. Why was he suddenly so nervous?

Will's thoughts turned back to the last few days. He'd seen Nico in action on the battlefield. Will had tried his best to not show it, considering they'd been in a life-and-death situation, but the whole time there had been fucking eagles flapping around inside his stomach. Some part of him had been in awe of the son of Hades, especially when Nico managed to off six of the dog-men even in his weakened state.

Will closed his eyes and relived the memories of the battle. Nico had been fighting like a madman. He'd never seen anything like it. Even Percy Jackson didn't come close to what he'd seen from Nico.

Will had to wonder just how much more Nico could do if he was at his full strength.

Lou Ellen was privy to one fact about the battle. Will had been blushing the entire time. From the moment they came across Nico, to the time that they confronted Octavian for the last time, he'd been blushing. Thankfully, Lou Ellen had had his back.

Just as soon as they went to disable the onagers, Will had looked helplessly at Lou Ellen. He remembered the way she'd smirked as she wove the mist into a mask for him. He was thankful for her magic.

Will's mind turned to the night of the burial rights at the campfire. Nico, dressed in something appropriate for the occasion: his senator toga, had looked so impressive. He'd looked at the crowd as though it didn't even faze him.

Nico looked and acted as though presiding over burial rites was what he'd been called to do all his life. Will supposed it was probably something he knew by instinct, being one of the children of Hades. Still, the way that Nico had handled himself had made Will's heart flutter.

Will's mind turned to other things. During the days since the battle, he'd seen Nico watching him from the edges of his vision. There was always a strange melancholy on Nico's face. He'd often tried to make contact with Nico, but whenever he looked in Nico's direction, Nico looked away.

Will had to wonder if the sadness on Nico's face meant that he was still thinking about leaving the camp for good. Will shook his head. He wouldn't let that happen. He just _couldn't_. He didn't know why, but he felt so very strongly for the son of Hades, and he didn't think he could live with himself if he let Nico go that easily.

Still, Will had not approached Nico those times that he saw the son of Hades. He'd always felt a surge of fear, and then a twinge of anger.

Will was afraid because he didn't want to get rejected by Nico, but at the same time, he was angry because Nico had said that no one wanted him to stay. It was a slap in the face. All that Will had ever wanted whenever Nico visited the camp, was for the son of Hades to stay for good.

Instead, Will resigned himself to just watching Nico from the distance, too afraid to go near him, and, even during the times he felt more confident, too afraid that he was going to say something he would eventually regret.

Will already regretted unintentionally dismissing everything that Nico had gone through over the years. He'd been angry with Octavian. He'd been angry at Nico's insinuation that no one cared enough for him to want him to stay. He'd been angry that Nico thought the camps would be better off if he was gone.

Just the other day, Will had had a rather awkward conversation with Annabeth. At first she hadn't wanted to tell Will of anything, but he'd begged her. He told her that he just wanted to show Nico that there were people that wanted to befriend him at camp, people that wanted him to stay. It was the truth.

Reluctantly, Annabeth had told him of what she knew about Nico. Will shook his head and blinked away tears. It had been a harrowing talk. Even through Annabeth's second-hand account, he couldn't imagine the pain that Nico suffered. When they were done, Will felt even more guilty for what he'd said.

Will stirred from his thinking when he heard noticed Percy's absolute confusion. The son of Poseidon was looking rather distressed and unsure. Will tilted his head in curiosity, but couldn't make out anything that they were talking about. Idly, Will wondered if Nico was confessing previous feelings for Percy.

Will shook his head. He reminded himself that not everyone was gay. Will, himself, was still grappling with his feelings for Nico. He didn't understand why they were so strong. He wanted nothing more than to confess undying love for Nico, but at the same time, he didn't want to accidentally scare away the son of Hades if he was incapable of reciprocating.

Will took a deep breath. He thought about just the previous night. He remembered the feeling of relief and hope that swelled in him when Reyna showed Nico what Will had been trying to say during that encounter with Octavian. He was welcome.

Camp Half-Blood was as much Nico's home as it was Will's. A small smile tugged at the corners of Will's lips as he remembered that at some point during the hug between Reyna and Nico, he'd wanted nothing more than to grow breasts and obtain Roman Praetorship.

Will sighed. It was the kind of sigh of longing and pining. He remembered Lou elbowing him in the ribs after the hug, and telling him that he'd just sighed out loud like a love-sick schoolgirl. He'd blushed. Then, he'd realized that he had missed everything else because he'd been staring at Nico for too long. He'd blushed even more.

Will blinked. His attention was brought back to the real world. Nico was walking back to him from across the green. The corners of Nico's lips were turned up in a tentative smile.

Hands trembling, Will couldn't help but blush as well when he noticed the pink twinge to Nico's cheeks. He grabbed his hand and willed it to be still as Nico approached. A gentle breeze blew past Will's face, and a lock of hair dropped over his eye.

With a single motion, Will brushed the blond hair away. At that moment, Nico's eyes had taken a momentary pause from their frantic darting. They had settled on Will's face. Instead of seeing a nervous and jittery son of Apollo, Nico saw a confident and rather good-looking one instead.

Will looked past Nico at Percy and Annabeth. The two looked as though they were in earnest conversation. Percy had a baffled look on his face. Annabeth, on the other hand, was shaking, presumably from laughter. "Hey," said Will. He forced his hands to be steady. Then he forced his foot to stop tapping.

Will shifted all his weight to the leg that was trembling. He wished with all his might, to all the gods, that Nico wouldn't notice. He felt like a jittery machine. He felt as though all his springs and coils were wound tight, and a single poke would send him bouncing all over the place.

"Hey," said Nico. He wasn't really sure how to respond to Will's greeting. He wasn't very good at this whole being social thing, after all.

Will's eyes wandered from Nico back to Annabeth. The daughter of Athena stopped talking to Percy for a moment, then turned to face Nico. She smiled as she saw him approaching Will. Then she looked at the son of Apollo. She winked at Will.

Instantly, Will felt all the blood rush into his face. Then it spread to his ears. It felt like his face was on fire.

Annabeth's laughter was so loud that both Nico and Will could hear it. Nico looked back at Percy and Annabeth. The tiny smile on Nico's lips fell for a moment, but the melancholy was gone almost as soon as it had come.

Will took the moment to try and compose himself. It wasn't working. His hands were still trembling. His foot was still trying its best to tap the ground into submission, or somehow dig a tunnel straight through the earth to China.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Will's face.

"Shall we?" said Will. He walked over to Nico, surprised at how easily he then slipped into his more confident persona. He supposed it was much easier to pretend once he had to. He reached out to grab Nico's shoulder. Then, at the last moment, he stopped. He remembered that Nico was touch-averse.

"Right," said Will. He looked at Nico, and at his hand hovering above the son of Hades' shoulder. "No touching," he reminded himself under his breath. He snatched back his hand and looked apologetically at Nico.

The son of Hades' eyes widened. Will found it cute.

"W-wait," Nico said. Even Nico's stutter was cute. Will bit the inside of his cheek. He had to focus. He couldn't afford to be lost in staring at Nico. That would have been far too awkward to deal with. "H-how did you know that?" asked Nico.

Nico was cursing himself. He couldn't understand why he was suddenly so nervous around Will Solace. It was like Percy all over again. Nico frowned. It was all he could do to keep in the gasp that threatened to spill from his lips. It was _just_ like Percy all over again.

Nico looked at Will. There was no _possible_ way that he was attracted to _Will Solace_. He'd fallen for Percy because he'd looked up to Percy as a larger-than-life hero. A god among demigods. In truth, some small part of him had started doing the same for Jason before he quashed it to save himself from any further pain.

Looking at Will Solace and the way with which the son of Apollo held himself, Nico couldn't help but think that Will was about as far as a demigod could get from Percy and Jason. Still, there was an inexplicable attraction that Nico felt in his chest.

"I-I-I…" Will sputtered. He was unable to process his thoughts. He was unable to form coherent words. He'd not expected Nico to ask that question of him. He'd prepared an entire conversation in his mind the previous night as he lay awake in bed thinking of Nico. Things were already not going to plan.

Will took a deep breath. He cleared his throat. He turned away, hoping that Nico wouldn't notice that his ears had turned red. Nico _did_ notice, but didn't know what to make of it, so he kept silent instead. "Well, Death Boy…"

Will nearly jumped at the loud threatening growl that came from Nico. He had to turn back around to face the son of Hades to make sure that he hadn't summoned a hell-hound. Will fought to maintain his cool and collected demeanour. "You struggled when I caught you and stopped you from falling."

Nico thought Will was done. The son of Apollo wasn't. "Then, when I got you up on your feet, you pushed me away even when I was making sure you wouldn't fall over again." Truth be told, Will had felt somewhat hurt by that, but he'd learned to live with it.

"It's kind of obvious that you don't want… anyone…" Will's voice faltered. His face turned even redder. He looked away. "Touching you." There was a wistfulness to Will's words that Nico couldn't quite place. Some part of him wished it meant that Will liked him, but he quickly quashed the thought, unwilling give himself false hope.

"O-oh" said Nico. He paused. He'd just realized that there was another layer to Will's tone of voice. _He_ knew it more than anyone. He'd walked so long among the dead of Asphodel. That tone was one he'd used himself many times in the past, even if it wasn't consciously.

That tone was longing. What Will could possibly be longing for, NIco couldn't tell.

"A—" Will felt as though there was a plug of phlegm stuck in his throat. He coughed to clear it away. "Anyway," he said, "Three days in the infirmary starting now."

Nico sighed and grumbled something about not needing any help. "Doctor's orders," said Will. "Death Boy." Nico didn't appreciate the teasing, but at the same time, he was a bit confused. He felt as though he was talking to two different people.

One was the confident and open Will Solace that he'd come to know and begrudgingly appreciate. The other was a different Will, one that he'd not seen yet, one that was shy, uncertain, and seemingly socially inept. Nico must have been looking at Will for too long because the healer's face got progressively redder and redder.

Will wished that Lou Ellen was there. Will wasn't sure where exactly she was, but she was definitely _elsewhere_. That, or she was watching from a distance so she could teaser him at a later time.

Will took a deep breath and composed himself. "So, come on, Death Boy. We don't have all day."

Will had expected an annoyed reaction from Nico. He hadn't expected a bad one. "Don't call me that!" said Nico. His words were sharp. His tone was angry. "Stop it!" he said. Nico didn't know what made him so angry, but he lashed out.

"Or I swear, Solace, I will summon the armies of the Underworld to end you," said Nico. He'd meant it as an empty threat, just to show how displeased he was with being called Death Boy, but as soon as he'd said it, Nico could tell that something had gone wrong.

An unnaturally angry Will Solace scowled at him, red-faced. Nico took a step back, but before he could take another, Will had grabbed his arm. Nico quivered. Why did his threat make Will so angry?

Nico gasped. The grip was tight, and it was right on his wounds from Lycaon's attack. It _hurt_.

"You will do no such thing, Nico di Angelo!" said Will. _His_ words were almost as sharp as Nico's had been. "You hear me?!" Nico tried to shrink away from Will, but he couldn't, not the way that Will had him by the arm. "I can't have you—"

Will blinked. He looked at Nico. A horrified expression crossed his face. He quickly took back his hand as Nico rubbed his arm. Will looked at his hand, disgusted.

Will couldn't even bring himself to look Nico in the eye. "I-I'm sorry," he said. Nico couldn't help but find the way that Will stammered somewhat cute. Then he slapped himself mentally for thinking that anything Will did was cute. The boy had practically _assaulted_ him! Still, the way that Will hung his head dejectedly made it difficult to stay mad. "I just…" Will sighed. "Never mind."

"Sorry," said Will. He turned away from Nico, unwilling to let the son of Hades see the shame on his face. He'd only just told himself to take it easy with Nico. He'd only just reminded himself of Nico's touch-aversion. "I'll understand if you don't want to come," he said.

Nico heard a soft slap. He didn't realize, nor could he, that the sound was of Will slapping himself across the face. Will would have done it harder, but it would have been too suspicious.

"N-no" said Nico. He stuttered, not really knowing what to do with the situation that had been put in front of him.

He was Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, and one of the Heroes of Olympus. He knew how to fight monsters, from cyclopes, to centaurs, to _empousai_. What he did _not_ know, however, was how to deal with other demigods.

Nico reached out to Will, but it was a tentative gesture. He stopped his fingers just short of Will's back. Nico's fingers hovered over Will's shoulder for a few seconds before he took them back. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He wouldn't even have known how to comfort Will!

The claw marks on his arm stung because of what Will had done to him, yet, Nico found himself unable to stay angry. Will had expressed remorse that was far and above what was understandable, and, in truth, Nico was intrigued to learn why.

Nico came to a realization. Perhaps the reason he was gravitating toward the son of Apollo was because Will seemed so willing to give Nico a chance. He seemed to be so eager to try and be Nico's friend. All the other campers were courteous, but none of them really seemed all that interested to befriend him. They were either intimidated or downright scared.

Will talked to him and treated him so differently from everyone else. To the others he was the creepy son of Hades. To his friends, he was someone to be protected. Will, on the other hand, seemed to look at Nico as someone he wanted to figure out.

Nico found himself, rather begrudgingly admitting, that he was beginning to look at Will the same way. He wanted to know why Will had called his a friendly face when it was anything but. He wanted to know why Will had insisted on him staying at the camp. He wanted to know why Will wanted to befriend him so much.

Nico was intrigued, and whether he liked it or not, he _had_ to sate his curiosity. Nico had to admit, though, that he was somewhat uneasy about the whole thing. It seemed as though Will had a rather short fuse. "I-I said I would go," he said.

Nico pondered the thought of Will having a short temper. He never would have guessed. All the times he'd seen Will Solace, the head counsellor of Apollo had been cool and collected. He remembered describing Will as a _cat_.

A short temper was definitely not a trait he would have associated with Will. "I'm going," said Nico. His voice was firmer. He _did_ swear on the Styx, and some small part of him _really_ wanted to give Will Solace a chance. "Doctor's orders, right?" he said, trying to make light of the situation.

Instead of the cheery response Nico had come to expect, Will said "Yeah, sure, doctor's orders." Will's tone was glum. He sighed. The sound was so forlorn and dejected that Nico felt a tug in his chest. He felt sorry, but he didn't exactly know for what.

Then, all of a sudden, as though a switch had been flipped, Will said "Well, come on then," with his normal cheery clip. "When I said three days in the infirmary," he said, "I meant three days _in_ the infirmary. This doesn't count!"

Some part of Nico felt like slowing down instead of speeding up. He watched Will as they walked toward the Big House. Nico chased the thoughts of spending more time in the infirmary away from his head. He was willing to admit that he was intrigued by this Will Solace, but he wasn't _that_ interested.

Nico almost jumped when Will buried his face in his hands for a moment. He looked back quickly, as though to check if Nico wasn't watching. Their eyes met. They flushed and looked away. Nico's heart fluttered in his chest. Okay. He _definitely_ wasn't _that_ interested.

Still, as he watched Will walk, he noticed that Will was trying his best to maintain some semblance of composure. Nico knew better. He'd _been_ in that place more than once. He could tell from the way that Will held himself that he was beating himself up over something.

Could Will possibly be angry at himself for lashing out at Nico? Nico dismissed the thought. He'd lashed out first. If anything, he should have been the one feeling bad. Nico tilted his head as they walked. He had to wonder why Will looked so dejected, if it wasn't for the unwarranted aggression earlier.

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><p><strong>AN: **Alright. There we go. First chapter of _Three Days in Darkness_ done. I hope you liked it. I hope it's refreshing. I hope it's enjoyable.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please, leave favs if you liked it, and leave reviews if you'd like me to hear your thoughts! It would be fantastic. I'd love the feedback.

Just so you know, I'll be updating every week on Thursday, so I'll see you next week for the next instalment of _Three Days in Darkness_. 3.


	2. The Healer's Touch

Will and Nico stood on the threshold of the infirmary. There were Apollo kids fussing and bustling about inside. The place was rather busy. The number of unoccupied beds yet unfilled could be counted on one hand. There was one such empty bed in the corner, and Nico eyed it.

If he was going to stay for three days, Nico wanted that bed. It was away from everyone else. He could probably lie on it in peace. "_Yes"_, he thought, "_that would be the perfect bed"_. Everyone else could probably shove off. The only one he was letting near him was Will.

Thinking of the son of Apollo, Nico faced his companion. Will was still looking dejected. It was almost as though he didn't think Nico noticed his sadness. It was rather difficult not to, considering how upbeat Will had been most other times. "Will…" said Nico. His voice was tentative.

"If…" Nico's voice caught in his throat. His mind had just entertained the notion that maybe Will didn't want him in the infirmary after all. Maybe Will was just trying to be pleasant. Nico definitely didn't want that. Maybe that was why Will had given him the chance to leave before. "If you don't want me here, I'll go," he said. He couldn't help the disappointment and apprehension in his voice.

"W-why would I not want you here?" Will said. His voice was so soft it was barely even a whisper. It was _just_ intelligible enough to make out.

Will looked up and saw Nico staring at him. The pink that had left his face crept back up and stained his cheeks, and even his ears. His eyes, on the other hand, were red and watery. It looked like he'd been blinking back tears. "I'm sorry," he said.

"I-I…" Will hesitated. He bit his lower lip. "I shouldn't have gotten angry. I shouldn't have grabbed you. I knew you don't like getting touched. It was my fault. If anything, I should leave if you don't want me around," said Will with a sigh. He meant it. He would leave if Nico wanted him to. He'd done a rather grievous wrong by the son of Hades, after all.

Nico was momentarily stunned into speechlessness. He didn't like getting touched. That much was true. Somehow, that fact didn't make Will's apology any easier to stomach. This was the first time in Nico's experience that someone had apologized so profusely for violating his personal space.

"It's just…" Will frowned. "You were threatening to use your Underworld-ly powers again. And…" Will made a choking sound. Nico raised his eyebrows in alarm, but Will waved away his concern. "I'm afraid if you do, you might fade…"

Will was afraid that Nico might kill himself? "I…" Will trailed off. His blue eyes were watery. He looked at Nico and their eyes met. "I-I" Will was stammering. The pink on his face was quickly deepening. "I don't think I can handle that," he admitted.

Nico's heart leaped into his throat. He couldn't get a single syllable out. He'd never encountered someone that could strike him as speechless as Will did. Was Will implying that he liked Nico? Will's eyes widened as he realized what he'd just admitted.

"I-I mean…" said Will, his words tentative and measured, "I don't want to lose a friend." Will looked at Nico hopefully. "Okay. There. You got me," he said, straightening where he stood. "I don't want to lose someone I think I can still save." The words were such a lie, they almost hurt to say.

Nico looked away. Just a friend. "_Oh_". He fought tooth and nail to not sigh in disappointment. Then he looked back at Will and became angry at himself. Why was he feeling this way for Will Solace? He hadn't even known the guy for very long, but all of a sudden, it seemed as though what he thought of Nico was so very important to him.

"Oh," said Nico, "Well, I promised, and I don't like broken promises." Nico sniffed and tried his best to seem indignant. "Are you going to show me in or should I just waltz in there and terrorize some poor camper who thinks he's going to die because I'm visiting him?"

Nico looked at Will, expecting a horrified look. Instead, it seemed that his second rather poor attempt at making light of their situation had worked better than previously. Will actually cracked a smile.

Still, it didn't change the fact that Will's shoulders were still slumped, and his eyes were sad and almost far away. Nico couldn't think of what Will could possibly be disappointed by. He wanted to ask really badly. He was _very_ curious of Will. Then he frowned at himself. Why did Will matter so much? He decided he wouldn't press the issue.

"Yeah," said Will, "Alright. Follow me." It was almost as though Will had read his mind. Nico walked in somewhat of a trance as they approached that bed in the corner. "I thought you would appreciate being a little bit away from everyone else," said Will. There was a tone to his voice that Nico couldn't quite place.

"Seems like that's where you always like to be," quipped Will. This time, Nico definitely caught the bitterness in Will's voice. It was another thing that he had to add to the list of intriguing things about Will Solace.

Nico frowned at himself. Since when had he had a list of intriguing things about Will Solace? He shook his head. "What is wrong with you?" he said. They were standing at the foot of the bed, awkwardly just looking at the crisp made sheets.

Nico looked at Will. The son of Apollo looked somewhat shocked. His eyes were wide, and he was speechless for a moment. "Don't think I didn't hear the bitterness in your voice," said Nico. "I'm something of an expert in that kind of thing…" Anger crept into Nico's voice.

Perhaps it was his apprehension at spending so much time under the power of Will Solace, or perhaps it was some of that Olympian temperament that he'd inherited, but Nico couldn't help being angry.

If Nico wasn't welcome in the infirmary, then he was going to leave. He wasn't stupid. He was beginning to think that Will was just doing this out of a misguided sense of indebtedness. He was going to go if that was the case. "Why are you doing this?" Nico demanded. His eyes bore into Will's. "What _am_ I to you, Solace?"

"You watched me let Octavian die," said Nico. He couldn't quite tell _why_ exactly he was angry. Maybe it was because of the mixed signals coming from Will. Maybe it was because of the bitterness that he'd detected in Will's voice. "He might have been Roman, and a Legacy of Apollo's, but he was technically your family. Is that what this is about? Because I'm going to leave if I'm not welcome and you just can't say it to my face."

"W-what?" said Will. He recoiled as though he'd been struck. "N-no!" he said. Nico scowled and turned to walk away.

"No!" said Will. "I-It's nothing like that," he said. He'd been about to reach out and grab Nico's arm. He stopped himself short of doing that. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Nico again. "It's nothing like that…" Will breathed deeply. "It's just… I've wanted to try and be your friend for a long time," he said.

"And, well, now you're about to fade. And then there was all that talk about leaving camp because no one wanted you…" Nico's breath hitched in his throat. Was Will saying…? "I'm probably just a bit bitter because you always kept to yourself and didn't let anyone get close…"

Nico's expression softened. He'd looked in Will's bright blue eyes. There wasn't the slightest indication that Will was lying. He was sincere. That alone managed to touch Nico's heart. He stopped in his tracks. "I did, you know," said Will.

"I wanted to give you a chance, and I wanted you to give me a chance," said Will. "I wanted to be your friend," he said. Friend? Was that it? Will hit himself mentally. He had had the chance to confess, but he didn't do it. "Yeah…" he said, trailing off.

Will scratched the back of his neck and looked at Nico. "That's probably why I sound so bitter, you know." Will sighed and the sound tugged at Nico's chest. It sounded so forlorn. He'd never thought he'd hear the sound from anyone else. "I tried and I tried, but you always pushed yourself away."

"You always stay in the corner," said Will, looking pointedly at the bed. He reached out, his fingers hovering over Nico's arm. "Alright. I understand. You find it difficult to trust people. Can't you at least _try,_ though?"

Nico shivered. He could feel Will's fingers hovering over his arm.

"So, can we do this over?" asked Will, tentatively. Will's tone of voice was so frightened and uncertain, Nico couldn't help but look back with concern.

Nico nodded, slowly. In front of his eyes, Will's bitterness and fear seemed to melt away. The apprehension was replaced, instead, by a genuine smile. As though Will was using some hithert-unknown power of Apollo, Nico couldn't help but return the smile. He nodded again, the gesture firmer this time.

"Alright," said Will. The cheery clip had returned to his voice. "Lie down on the bed, Death Boy," he said with a smirk.

"Don't call me that!" said Nico. He had _no_ idea why being called 'Death Boy' was such a sensitive subject. He supposed he just didn't like Will pretending like they were close friends already when they weren't. "Solace! I swear! I will—"

Nico trailed off when he realized there was anger in Will's eyes. Anger on the surface, but underneath he could see that there was fear and concern. Nico realized with a jolt that he'd been about to make the same threat of summoning the armies of the undead. He'd already angered Will with that threat earlier. He felt stupid all of a sudden.

Nico flinched when Will narrowed his eyes. "Nevermind," he said. "I… Just…" He didn't really know what to say. "Don't. Please?" It wasn't so much a request as it was a plea. He hoped that Will would agree.

Silently, Will nodded. "Okay," he said. "I won't." Then, with uncertainty in his voice, Will added, "Maybe in the future? When we're closer friends?" Nico tilted his head at Will and just looked at the other demigod for a moment.

"You're optimistic, aren't you, Solace?" Nico finally said after what seemed to be an eternity. He was, frankly, somewhat amused now. "Don't push your luck," he teased.

Will smiled at Nico. It was one of those less-genial, more shit-eating grins that he'd seen on Percy and Jason a number of times. If anything, it only meant, to Nico, that Will was very much determined to get to the point where he could call Nico "Death Boy" without potentially fatal retaliation.

Nico scowled, almost playfully, as he clambered onto the bed. He kicked his shoes off, and he swung his legs onto the sheets. He laid his back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He was ready for questions, if any came.

It took a good minute before Nico realized that Will wasn't talking. He looked around, expecting Will to be walking around among the sick and treating them, but instead he was sitting beside the bed, looking at Nico with an unreadable expression.

Nico tried to speak, but he couldn't find the words. They just stared at each other for a few minutes. Finally, Nico broke the silence. "I would understand if you hate me…" he said. He turned his eyes to the ceiling. There had been butterflies in his stomach from locking gazes with Wyn for such an extended period, but now they were dead. The skeletal butterflies' un-life had been short.

Nico was hoping that Will didn't hate him. He didn't know where the thought had come from, but he was afraid of it. Nothing that Will had done showed that he hated Nico in the slightest, but some part of Nico was still irrationally afraid of being hated.

Nico looked at Will. He hadn't been lying, though, when he said that he would have understood if Will _did_ hate him.

Nico was pretty sure that he would hate himself, too, if he hadn't already been in the situation where he'd hated himself so much that it was beginning to get old. Will's expression was scandalized. Will couldn't even deign to think of _why_ Nico thought that Will hated him. "Because of Octavian," said Nico, "I let him die. I didn't do anything to stop him. I didn't even _try._"

Will looked visibly upset by Nico's words. "Please, Nico," he said. His voice was pleading. "Stop it." Will sighed and edged his chair closer to the bed. He looked at Nico. "Stop thinking everyone's going to hate you for the things you've done."

Will took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm a little angry," he admitted. "I'm disappointed. I don't hate you, though, Nico." Will sighed again. "I blame myself probably as much as you blame yourself. I could have tried, too, you know."

Nico hadn't thought of that. He was so used to thinking of himself having all the responsibility, he often forgot that other people could have felt responsible for things, too. "Unfortunately, _I_ am just a healer. I had no chance against even that ratty idiot. He was a trained Roman Legionnaire."

Will laughed bitterly. "Maybe I could have taken him. But then his buddy came. I'm sure as Hades that I couldn't do anything to that brute Kahale," he said.

Nico was about to protest, but before he could say anything, Will cut him off. "If anything," Will said with a sigh, "I would understand if _you_ hated _me_."

Nico nearly choked, hearing those words coming from Will. It wasn't every day that Nico had his self-deprecating words thrown back at him with the same conviction. He looked at Will, but Will had turned away so Nico wouldn't see the tears glimmering in his eyes.

A minute stretched out between the two boys. They were quiet, in stark contrast to the sheer chaos of the infirmary around them. Yet, they were so absorbed in each other, they barely noticed the other Apollo cabin members bustling about tending to the injured. Finally, Will broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Nico," he said, "I didn't know. I was angry. I didn't want you to leave."

Nico blinked. He was confused. He had absolutely no idea what Will was talking about. "I called it brooding. I told you that you pushed yourself away. That no one in camp ever wanted you to leave…"

Will took in a deep breath. "Okay, that last one was a lie. But, those people that want you to leave, they just do because they don't know you and they don't even want to try and they can honestly go fuck themselves."

Nico felt a blush creep up his cheeks upon hearing Will defending him. It felt good to be defended, for once, but at the same time, Nico didn't know how to respond. He didn't even really understand what he had to respond to to begin with.

Will looked at Nico earnestly. "I'm sorry if I made it look like I was jsut throwing everything you went through out the window. I…" There was a look of pain on Will's face. "I didn't know you'd gone through Tartarus. I didn't know you went through so much pain. I-I never meant it like that."

Will buried his face in his hands. He did it so quickly that Nico didn't even have the chance to see Nico's expression. Then, he started rambling so much that Nico didn't have the time to get a single word in. "I just… I wanted to be your friend."

There it was again. Just a friend. There was a dull ache in Nico's chest. He wanted to hit himself for feeling that way. "I wanted you to stay so I could get to know you, so when you said you were leaving for good…" The memory started coming back to Nico. "I got angry. I got scared. So… I got careless, too. I didn't mean to ignore what you went through, Nico," said Will.

Nico blinked at Will. He had, in all honesty, forgotten about what Will had said then. Then he frowned. He couldn't help but feel a little resentment for the "get your head out of your brooding cloud" comment. He had had every right to brood. He'd gone through a lot.

After the Battle of Manhattan, Nico had been welcomed. He'd dared hope that he would finally be accepted, but the joy had been short-lived. The campers started flinching whenever he appeared. They started avoiding him. The message had been clear. He wasn't welcome.

Nico had had every right to be brooding. His resentment was justified. After all, Will had thrown it all out of the window in a moment of anger. Nico looked at Will, scowling. Will's eyes were averted.

Will sighed. He squeezed his own hands together. They were trembling rather profusely. "What I wanted to tell you was that _I_ never pushed you away. That _I_ didn't want you to leave. That _I_ wanted to be your friend."

"You had every right to be brooding because of what happened, and what some people in the camp did to you. I understand that now. I just wanted to tell you, that day, that you have to push _through_ the pain and see what was actually worth staying for." Will finally met Nico's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Will said. Nico's heart lurched in his chest. He could see the remorse on Will's face, and he couldn't help but be swayed by it. He wanted to reach out and comfort the son of Apollo, but he couldn't. "I guess I'm just not the best at giving advice," said Will with a bitter smile.

Nico wanted to say something, _anything_, but the shock of someone caring enough about him to actually ask about him and apologize for a wrongdoing that Nico didn't even remember himself was a bit too much. He couldn't hold on to his resentment. He couldn't speak, either.

"Anyway," said Will. "There. Okay. I said my piece." Will looked expectantly at Nico. "I understand if you hate me…" Some part of Nico wanted, so badly, to say that no, he didn't hate Will, but his throat was still locked up. "I'll go," said Will. "I just wanted to try."

Nico watched helplessly as Will stood and tapped a spot under one of the chair's arms. The chair promptly folded back down into a square of wood that slipped under the bed.

Will walked over to one of his half-siblings working in the infirmary and grabbed him by the shoulder. The grip must have been rather vicious because the scrawny kid winced and whimpered as he was dragged over to Nico. "This is Andrew," said Will. He was trying his best to keep the hurt from his voice, but it was difficult. "If you need anything, tell him."

"I'll go somewhere I can't bother you," said Will. He walked away. He didn't even look back at Nico. Will's shoulders were slumped forward again. Nico blinked. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating, but he could have sworn that Will just wiped tears from his face.

When Will was gone, tending to the other patients, Nico looked at the new Apollo kid that had been sent by the Fates to bug him. Andrew didn't look anything like Will. Nico wondered if Andrew had taken more after his mother.

Nico glared at Andrew. The boy scampered away to leave Nico to his thoughts. What exactly _was_ he to Will Solace? Why did it look like the head counsellor of the golden rays of sunshine so diametrically opposed to his own doom, gloom, and darkness, seem to want so badly to be his friend?

Nico didn't understand. He didn't know why all of a sudden, Will's opinion of him became so important. He didn't know why he seemed so important to Will. He didn't know why Will was trying _so_ hard to befriend him.

Nico mused that it was annoying, but endearing in its own way.

Nico wasn't used to anyone telling him that he was wrong when he said that he would understand if they didn't like him. If anything, Will seemed hell-bent on proving to Nico that he was wanted in camp, even after he'd already decided he was going to stay.

It seemed to Nico that Will was downright _afraid_ of Nico leaving. He didn't really know what to think about that.

More than that, Will _himself_ intrigued Nico. He watched as Will moved from bed to bed. The sadness never really seemed to leave Will's shoulders. There was a smile plastered on his face, but the way he held himself told a different story. It was so strange, finally seeing this other side of Will that he'd never noticed before. He didn't understand why Will felt the need to disguise his sadness. It only made Nico more curious about him.

Already, Nico had had to change his evaluation of Will a couple of times. First he'd thought about Will as a pacifist. Laid-back and cool. Then he found out that Will also had the capacity to be annoying and aggravating.

Just when Nico had thought that _that_ was the entirety of Will Solace, he learned that there was a gentler side to him. Now he'd learned of another layer, a sad, seemingly forlorn Will Solace. One that was desperate to make him, a son of Hades, a friend. He didn't know what to make of it, at all.

Nico's thoughts wandered, unwanted, to the fact that Will had made it almost abundantly clear that he only wanted to be friends. If he wanted to be more, he definitely did a rather poor job at showing it. Nico was angry at himself that the thought of being just friends with Will disappointed him.

Nico didn't want to recognize the fact, but part of him wanted more than that. Still, Will probably had a girlfriend already. That Lou Ellen girl. They seemed close. Nico mentally slapped himself when he realized that he resented that possibility. He had to stop himself. If he didn't, then he would end up with another Percy situation all over again.

Nevertheless, Will Solace was an enigma to Nico. He was a conundrum that Nico couldn't quite understand.

If there was one thing that their conversation so far had made clear to Nico, it was that he and Will seemed much more alike than he had thought initially. Nico was pretty _sure_ that he'd sensed some insecurity from Will. The way that Will had said that he was _'just a healer'_ had been so self-disparaging, Nico couldn't have mistaken it for anything else.

Nico watched Will work. He hoped that maybe Will would come over to him. Instead, he got the unpleasant and unwelcome face and voice of Andrew Greene. He scowled at the poor kid. Andrew cowered and fled instantly.

Nico noted, bitterly, that Andrew's reaction was more familiar. It had happened so many times before, but it still managed to hurt him.

Will's reaction to him was so different from everyone else. Instead of being afraid, Will had stared him down. It made Nico uncomfortable, the fact that Will was something entirely new. Yet, somehow, for some reason, Nico found some comfort in that fact.

Nico felt a warmth in his chest that Will had not acted like everyone else. That Will had tried, in his own way, to get through to Nico.

Then Will had driven himself away. _"Hypocrite,_" mused Nico. He was distracted from his thoughts by Will suddenly taking a seat on one of the empty beds. He watched as Will buried his face in his hands. He watched as Will suddenly jumped up and ran out of the infirmary.

Will Solace felt like both the biggest wimp and the biggest idiot in Camp Half-Blood. He had run from the infirmary. He was crying because he couldn't handle it anymore. Nico's silence when he had asked if Nico hated him was too much to bear.

That was it, thought Will. Because he'd been careless in his anger, the guy he'd had a crush on for so long despised him. He couldn't bear the thought. He tried. He desperately tried to cling on to some shred of hope, but he couldn't.

It was too much. Will couldn't stay in the infirmary, nor could he just stop and let everyone see how much of a wreck he really was. Instead, he ran. He kept running until he very nearly crashed into the front door of the Hecate cabin. "Lou!" Will called out for his best friend.

"You're an idiot, Solace," said Lou Ellen, appearing beside Will. He flinched and came frighteningly close to punching her. He was at least grateful that he was too distressed to scream like a frightened child.

Will turned to face his best friend and opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, he was interrupted. "Yes," said Lou Ellen, "Yes you are." Normally she was more exuberant, like Will, but when it came to her best friend's romantic problems, Lou Ellen got rather _scary_.

Lou planted her fists on her hips and glared at Will. "You didn't even give him a chance to answer!" she said. "You piled it all on him without even considering whether he was ready for it or not." Lou was really good at pointing out where Will had gone wrong. It was one of the reasons she was his best friend, after all.

"It's really great how much you care for him, but you know you can't fix everything, right?" said Lou. Again, it was another great point. "You can't apologize for everything, either."

Then the realization hit Will like a brick. "You were there?" he asked. The words came out in more of a squeak than the voice of outrage he'd had in his head. It was too late to take them back.

"I was the nightstand," said Lou Ellen, giggling. "Or, well, at least I was standing where the nightstand was. I made you see a nightstand, but it was totally me."

Will was surprised. And confused. "Ow. Stop it. You're making my head hurt again, Lou," said Will. He hadn't thought Lou Ellen was quite _that_ good in manipulating the mist just yet.

"I heard everything," said Lou Ellen, "I saw everything." Lou's expression turned stern. "You, Will Solace, are the biggest idiot in the entire camp!" she said. Will stopped sniffling. He had the grace to look at least a little offended.

"Gods!" said Lou, grabbing Will by the shoulders and shaking him. "Will, you're showing him that you care for him. That's great. Keep it up. But Olympus, you are trying way too hard! Are you trying to scare him away from camp?"

Okay, maybe Lou Ellen was exaggerating a bit, but when it came to such matters, Will only ever listened when you yelled at him enough, or when you terrified him enough. As it happened, Lou managed to accomplish the latter. "No!" said Will, voice squeaky. "I wouldn't dream of it!"

"It's like you're pouring your heart out on him already, Will!" said Lou Ellen. "Think about it. If you met a random stranger in the park, would you appreciate it if they started telling you their entire life story out of nowhere?" Will shuffled uncomfortably where he stood. He wouldn't. "This is _Nico di Angelo_ we're talking about. I don't care if _you_ don't think you're strangers. From what you've told me, I'm pretty sure _he_ thinks _you_ are a stranger to him."

Lou's expression turned gentler. She looked Will in the eye and said, "I'm not the best at advice, but I try. So, here goes. If you want to get close to him, and get to know him… I dunno, sunshine—" Will smiled at the endearment. "—_maybe_ take it one little step at a time?"

Will sniffled and rubbed the back of his hand against his nose. Lou was right. As always. He had to admit that he'd been far too enthusiastic.

"Besides," teased Lou. "Maybe you should stop liking the sound of your own voice too much."

Will elbowed his best friend in the ribs. She laughed. He couldn't help but chuckle, too. After a few moments, Will sighed. "I can see that now," he said, "I wish you could have _told_ me something."

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "I just… I feel this connection with him," said Will. "He thinks he's an outcast. He thinks he doesn't belong. He does." Will looked off into the distance. "Whenever I look at him, I feel like there's someone who finally understands how I feel, you know?"

Lou squeezed Will's shoulders. "I just," said Will, "I want that feeling of belonging, Lou. I'm such a loser." Lou Ellen frowned, but Will didn't let her speak. "I don't have any of my father's other talents. I'm _just_ a healer. I don't even fit my _own_ cabin!"

"Stop it, Will!" said Lou, shaking Will by the shoulders a second time. "Stop it with this not belonging nonsense." Her expression softened. "You _do_ belong, just like Nico. Difference is, you've actually been welcomed in the camp. People actually like you, Will."

"Maybe take your own advice, Solace," said Lou, "Think about what's worth thinking about instead of this self-pity of yours. Sure, you're not as musically-inclined or accurate with a bow and arrow as your siblings, but that doesn't make you any less Apollo's son. It doesn't make you a loser."

Lou took Will and gently steered him back in the direction of the Big House. "Now go," she said, "Nico needs the care of a damn good healer. That's what you are, Will. Whether you believe it or not."

Will looked back at Lou and smiled gratefully. "Go," she said, shoving him back in the direction he'd come from.

"Will," said Andrew, walking up to his older half-brother as soon as Will walked into the infirmary, "He… uh… asked for you." Will looked at Nico. He was feeling better. He was feeling more focused. More determined. He nodded and patted Andrew on the shoulder.

Will could feel Andrew tense under his touch. He felt _somewhat_ sorry about having gripped Andrew's shoulder so tightly before, but then, he thought it would be good to toughen the kid up. He'd heard from the rest of the cabin that Andrew had gone and cowered under his bed during the war with Gaea.

Will didn't apologize to his half-brother. He made a beeline for Nico, instead. "Hey, di Angelo," he said with a small smile. Nico looked up and, to him, saw Will looking much more himself, with a bright smile that could dazzle a rock.

"Sorry about a while ago," he said, "I don't know what came over me." Will's smile changed. It became gentle, less cheery. "I did mean it, though, so I hope you can forgive me." Nico nodded. He'd already thought of things to say to Will, but the sudden change in attitude had caught him off-guard again.

"Are you alright?" asked Will, when Nico still didn't answer him verbally. Nico grimaced weakly. Lying there in the infirmary, he was beginning to feel the weariness of the past few days starting to weigh down on his shoulders. Nico's form flickered and Will's heart jumped into his throat.

"I don't know if I can, Solace," said Nico. "It _was_ a pretty offensive statement." Nico's voice was growing weaker by the second. Will looked absolutely crestfallen. "I was kidding," said Nico with a small smile. "Thank you," he said, "for trying. I…" Nico trailed off. He breathed deeply. "I appreciate it."

Will frowned at Nico. "I know you don't like touching," he said, "but dammit, di Angelo!" Will's voice rose in volume as he spoke. By the time he finished, the entire infirmary was staring at him. Well, most of the infirmary. Some of the patients were out cold.

"You're fading on me again," said Will, in a voice laden with concern.

There was a moment of silence as Nico regarded Will with the most level glare he could manage. "No shit, Sherlock," he said. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Do I even have a choice?" he asked.

"I'm trying to give you one," said Will, "but you're making it difficult." Will pulled up the chair from underneath the bed and plopped himself down on it. "I'm a healer, Nico," he explained. "I _kind of _have to touch you to… you know, _heal_ you."

Nico coughed. He couldn't even muster the strength to bring his fist up to his mouth to cover it. He'd not realized just how much he'd been running on adrenaline and post-victory positivity for the last couple of days.

It had all started catching up to him at some point during the time Will was gone from the infirmary. All the pain, hardship, and tiredness came crashing down all at once. It had been rather difficult to bear. He was somewhat glad of Will's company, even if it meant being touched.

"One choice isn't much of a choice at all, is it?" said Nico. Nico didn't know why he said that in as humorous a voice as he could muster. He thought that maybe injecting some levity into the situation would make it easier. It didn't really help much, but he guessed that it was better than sulking about how weak he had become.

"You know what I mean, Nico," said Will. There was a hint of anger in his voice, but it was mostly overshadowed by gentle concern. "Now," said the healer, "I'm going to touch you whether you like it or not."

Nico grumbled in protest, but it seemed like Will wasn't done. "I am not going to let you fade," said Will, "And you will not do any Underworld-ly stuff to try and stop me. Doctor's orders." Nico nodded silently. "I wasn't asking, Nico."

Nico blushed. He didn't know why he blushed, but he did it all the same. "Olympus help me, if you so much as summon a the shadow of a fly, I will end you," said Will. Nico grunted his approval. Like he'd said earlier. He didn't really have that much of a choice.

At the very least, it seemed as though Will was channelling his aggression into healing Nico. Soon enough, Will's hands found Nico's arm. The touch was surprisingly gentle, compared to earlier, when he'd accidentally provoked Will's anger. The touch was also pleasantly warm.

Will closed his eyes. He could feel so much pain dwelling under the surface of Nico's skin.

The moment Will closed his eyes, Nico became acutely aware of the pain at his core. Nico had to wonder how he was still alive. He should have faded already. Perhaps while he'd been transporting the Athena Parthenos, the _need_ to save the camps had kept him anchored. Now, Nico wasn't quite sure what was keeping him bound to the world of the living.

Will was wondering the same thing, but he didn't have the time to get to know why Nico was still anchored. Will had to do _something_. He tightened his grip on Nico's arm and prayed to his father to lend him strength and guidance.

Will didn't feel anything change. He frowned, but he persisted. It wasn't like he hadn't ever healed people without his father's guidance before. It was just that Nico's condition was so new to him, Will was afraid of fucking up.

Without Apollo's intervention, Will had only one choice. He breathed deeply and began to sing the hymn that he'd sung so many times before. He shivered as he felt the strength flow from his body, through his hands, up Nico's arm, and into the Italian's body.

Nico's colour went from deathly pale to a more human sheen. Will felt exhausted, but he felt satisfied with what he'd done. Nico still looked rather weak, but at least he seemed in better condition than before Will had done what he could.

Nico felt _great_. Relatively speaking, of course. He still felt bone-tired, but at least it wasn't as crippling as before Will laid hands upon him. He managed to crack a smile at Will. "I thought that horrid dog whistle was your best musical talent," said Nico, "That wasn't half bad, Solace." Will turned pink at the jab.

However, instead of a smirk and equally witty response, which he'd come to expect from Will, what Nico got was a bitter smile. "Healing's the one exception, Nico," said the healer, "Here."

Reverently, Will slid his arms under Nico's shoulders and hauled him up from the bed. Will held up a cup of something to Nico's lips. It was unicorn draught, Nico noted with surprise. Apparently the Romans had given the Greeks some.

"Sleep," said the son of Apollo, as he gently lay Nico's head back on the pillows of the bed. "It will help."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _Alright! Here we are! Chapter two!_

_I'd like to read what you think, so please, leave comments! If you liked it, do leave a fave. :3. It would be very much appreciated! _


	3. The Darkness Beyond the Gods

_Silence. Nico drifted alone in it. Absolute, deafening silence. It was the most terrifying thing he__'d ever known. He could not even hear his own heartbeat which only moments ago had been thundering in his ears._

_Nico couldn__'t hear the slightest peep. He couldn't hear a single squeal. Even the static-y whine that was there whenever his ears were covered or plugged was gone. The silence was complete. It was unnerving._

_Not even all the moaning, weeping, and wailing of the souls in Punishment could compare. Not even the aimless wandering groans of the dead in Asphodel. Their spine-chilling pleas to be remembered._

_There was nothing, here, where Nico drifted. That, in itself, was far more terrifying than anything that he had ever experienced._

_It came from the depths of the absolute darkness. Laughter. Deep, malevolent laughter that made Nico__'s limbs quake and his bones turn to mush. The sound was terrifying, but he embraced it. It was better than drifting in the silence._

_Then, Nico felt the pulling. It was the inexorable grasp of the dark. It was the hunger of the yawning void and the evil that dwelt just above it. Nico shivered. He tried to resist._

_Nico was _nothing_ in the face of this most ancient, primordial, and primal evil. He found himself being helplessly sucked into the most mind-numbing and sanity-breaking place he__'d ever had the misfortune to spend any time in. Tartarus._

_Nico tried to run, but he couldn__'t. He tried to turn his head away, but found himself unable. He closed his eyes, but then, he realized, that there were many horrors in Tartarus that did not need sight to terrify. Nico whimpered. He just wanted to get away. He would have done anything just to leave this damned place._

"_Nico di Angelo," said a deep voice. It sounded as though there were ten speakers, but one was speaking a half-second later than the last. As each voice washed over Nico, he saw Tartarus begin to come into focus around him._

_Nico fell to his knees in the middle of the plains that was normally filled with monsters. It was eerily empty. All that Nico could see in the vast gray expanse was the swirling darkness in the distance. The ravenous hunger that could not be sated._

_The laughter began again and Nico could feel his insides melt into mush. All the fight left his entire body. He fell to the ground. Despair was all he knew._

_Nico didn__'t even wince as he was dragged across the plains. He tumbled all over himself, but he was beyond caring. It was just so meaningless to keep on caring. Even fear was meaningless, now._

_Nico slammed against Tartarus__' armoured feet. He did not make so much as a sound. He expected to be sucked up into Tartarus' maw. He expected to be consumed. He expected to spend eternity in agony, pressing against Tartarus' armour as he was slowly devoured until nothing was left._

_Nico looked up and somehow, he could tell that Tartarus was smiling at him. He did not know how he knew that, considering the fact that Tartarus__' face was just a swirling void, an emptiness that sucked everything in._

_Tartarus laughed again. The sound made Nico tremble. It made the blood in his veins feel like the fire of the Phlegethon. __"You, like my pathetic son and that inferior creature with him, are not worthy of dying by my hand," said the Lord of the Pit. "There is someone who has not had the taste of demigod flesh and wants to try it," said Tartarus._

"_Be honoured, son of Hades," said Tartarus, "My father Chaos does not take interest in many." Suddenly, Nico's entire body locked up in fear. He froze. He couldn't struggle when Tartarus picked him up and tossed him into the darkness and the all-encompassing silence. He fell. And fell. And fell._

_Then, he was _nothing.

Nico's eyes flew open. He sat bolt upright on his bed in the infirmary. He could feel his powers going haywire. He could feel the shadows. They were cold, and they were clinging to his skin. It was a horrible, cloying feeling, and Nico couldn't help but gag.

Sweat was beading on Nico's forehead. He tried to wipe it off, but he wasn't able to raise his arm to even do that. Nico shivered. He became acutely aware of how cold the infirmary had become. If only Nico had looked at his arms, he would have seen that he was flickering again, melting into shadows before reforming in the space of a heartbeat.

Nico looked down at his feet. He wiggled his toes. At least he could still do that. Then he noticed something rather odd. He very nearly jumped out of the bed when he realized what it was.

Nico probably would have jumped out of the bed if he'd had the strength, but seeing Will Solace so close had scared the living daylights out of Nico. Will's arms were propped on the bed and crossed. Will's head was nestled in the middle. The healer was sleeping by Nico's hip.

Even if he'd had the strength, Nico didn't think he would have kicked Will's head off the bed. The son of Apollo looked so peaceful, sleeping. Nico would have felt guilty waking him up. Still, Nico was curious. Had Will been sleeping there the whole time? He couldn't imagine it.

Nico glanced briefly around the infirmary. His eyes found one of the windows. Outside, the sky was rather dark, save for the light of the waning moon. None of the other Apollo kids, as far as Nico could tell, were sleeping in the infirmary. Nico's only companions in the dark of night, or early morning, were the other patients on their beds, and Will.

Nico couldn't help but ask himself, "_Why me?__"_ Nico looked around the infirmary and came to the conclusion, perhaps wrongly, that there were many others in conditions worse than he was. Nico thought Will should have been spending time with _them_ instead of him.

The son of Hades cursed as he felt his arms, which were supporting him in his sitting position, began to wobble. He tried his best to lie back down on his pillows gently. He didn't want to wake Will up.

Halfway there, Nico's arms gave way and he fell onto the bed. He watched, horrified, as Will's head bounced a couple of inches off of the bed's surface. Nico winced at the loud smack as Will's face collided with his arms. "Ow!" said Will, sputtering. "Wha…huh?" said Will.

Will looked at Nico as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. It was too early in the morning. "Nico?" he asked. He couldn't really see that well yet. "Were you trying to get away?" said Will. Nico frowned. He had no idea where Will got that idea. If anyone knew that he couldn't even get up properly, it would've been Will.

Will raised his arms over his head and stretched as he yawned. When he placed his arms back on the bed, Nico finally got the chance to get a good long look at Will's face.

Much to his surprise, Nico didn't see ease on Will's face. He saw tiredness. He had not realized just how tiresome the job of a healer must have been. Will had dark rings aroujnd his eyes, and moved with a slow cautiousness that spoke of aches all over his body.

Nico had to wonder how many of them were from going to sleep in such a strange position, and how many of those aches were from working tirelessly to make sure that the demigods were safe and healthily sound. The more Nico watched Will, the more he had to admire the dedication that the son of Apollo must have had to work so hard on what he did.

It came as a rather big surprise that instead of grumbling about sleep, Will took a look at Nico when his vision finally cleared and narrowed his eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked.

All trace of sleepiness was gone from Will's voice. It was almost as though a switch had been flipped and Will was back to full energy. Nico didn't think he could keep up. He was having enough trouble processing Will's words alone at the moment.

"You look terrible, Nico," said Will. The son of Apollo reached for Nico's forehead. Before the hand could even come close, Nico had already wriggled his way to the other side of the bed.

Will frowned. "Sorry," said Nico. He wriggled back to the middle of the bed and reluctantly allowed Will to place the palm of his hand against Nico's forehead. A look of distress and alarm crossed Will's face. "That bad, huh?" Nico asked, weakly.

Will scowled at Nico.

"It was just a nightmare, Solace," said Nico, "Just a nightmare." He tried to smile, but he guessed it wasn't a very pleasant one as Will glowered at him instead.

Out of the blue, Nico heard an almost-indiscernible creak of bone. He looked up just in time to see a skeletal soldier, probably one of his own, preparing to strike down Will with a spectral sword. Terror seized Nico's heart.

In a panic, he yelled "Go away!" with all the strength he could muster. It wasn't very impressive. It had sounded far more intimidating in his head. It came out as more of a throaty squeak.

Will looked rather offended at the outburst, since he still hadn't noticed the skeleton, and was about to lecture Nico on the proper way to tell people to give him some space. Will whirled around as he heard the skeleton collapse and disintegrate into dust.

"I-I…" said Nico. He couldn't control his stammering. "I d-didn't summon him!" Nico tried to steady his breaths. He'd _never_ been so terrified that someone might get hurt before.

It had been one thing, with Bryce Lawrence and Reyna. Nico had been scared then. Seeing the skeleton looming over Will, about to deliver what would probably have been a fatal blow, Nico had been almost petrified where he lay. "At least not consciously," he said after a while.

Will looked at Nico with a harrowed look on his face. As soon as it had appeared there, it was replaced with concern. "I told you, no more Underworld-ly stuff!" grumbled Will under his breath.

It was then that Nico noticed that Will's hands were trembling again. _"Great,"_ he thought, _"Just… great."_ The last thing that Nico needed was to scare someone off who was _trying_.

Will looked at Nico and frowned. "Don't look at me like that, di Angelo," said Will with a stern voice, "I'm not scared of you. I happen to know you probably couldn't raise a single phalange consciously even if you wanted to."

"Not like this," said Will, gesturing all over Nico's body and making the son of Hades feel rather conscious about himself. "I'm afraid…" Will's voice faltered and he trailed off. He remembered Lou Ellen's words. He reminded himself, _"Baby steps, baby steps."_

"Nevermind," Will said. He wished he hadn't said it so aggressively, but there was no taking it back now. "You are not going to fade under my watch," said Will, poking Nico in the chest, which the son of Hades was surprisingly okay with. "You hear me?"

Nico gulped audibly and nodded. He'd come to learn that Will Solace could get rather scary when he was hell-bent on saving someone's life. Nico didn't find it uncomfortable. In fact, he found it interesting, and endearing. It was also infuriating, but only because he kept thinking of it as endearing, and he didn't want to do that.

Nico blinked. Without warning, the entire infirmary seemed to have brightened. More than that, Nico felt a surge of energy creep its way from his arm, then up his chest before spreading through his entire body, right to the tips of his toes.

At first, Nico thought he'd been hallucinating, but the infirmary was definitely brighter. He looked at himself, and found that he was glowing slightly with a golden radiance. He was surprised, to say the least. He stiffened where he lay. It was all he could do to not shout about the light.

Nico looked at Will, expecting to find Will pressing on his arm, despite fact that Nico didn't _feel_ Will touching him. He expected Will to be concentrating on some new form of healing magic, but instead, he saw Will, looking right back at him with just as much surprise written on his face.

"Solace?" Nico asked, concerned. Was the new magic going to kill him? Sure, he didn't really value his life that much, but he still didn't want to _die_ in the process of being _healed_.

Still, Nico found himself answering his own uncertainty. It was difficult, if not impossible, to think that the light was threatening because it just felt so _restorative._ Nico watched as the golden light pulsed over his body. It drove away the darkness that threatened to consume him. Even the despair at the edges of his consciousness evaporated.

Nico's form stabilized. He was still weary. He still felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of shadows at the slightest provocation. At least he didn't feel at risk of doing that _without_ provocation. Warm and cozy. That was how Nico felt. It was such an alien sensation, Nico couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable with it.

Slowly, the glow began to retreat. The light crept back up Nico's limbs, drawing back to his chest, then down his arm, and into Will's hands. The two boys both watched in wonder as the golden light pulsed and danced, every so often creating a loop much like a solar prominence.

The sight was enchanting. It was, without a doubt, beautiful. It was a thought that Nico had ever dared imagine he would have about _light_. Will held back a gasp of astonishment as the light continued to pulse over his hands like a membrane.

Will pulled his hands further away from Nico's arm than they had been hovering previously. The light blinked off like a lamp that had been unplugged.

"What," said Nico, with a voice still hoarse but stronger than it had been since feeling the weight of the world come crashing down on his shoulders, "in Hades was _that_?" Nico shook his head from side to side. "I feel…"

Will interrupted him. "Better?" said Will, almost too hastily. "Stronger?" It sounded as though with every word, Will was getting more and more excited about it. Nico looked warily at Will and narrowed his eyes. "I feel the same way, too," said the son of Apollo.

Nico looked up. He took a moment to examine Will's face. Sure enough, the tiredness that had been there before was gone. Will looked like he'd taken a fourteen-hour beauty sleep.

Nico blushed, then mentally slapped himself for thinking that Will was cute. He had absolutely _no_ business being attracted to Will. It wasn't like he had a chance anyway. Still, Nico found his eyes drawn to Will's face time and again.

The circles around Will's eyes had faded. His skin had taken on a healthier tone. He almost looked like he was glowing. Will's eyes were brighter. The startling blue, clearer. And last, but definitely not least, Will's hair seemed even more lush and golden, and soft and tempting, than usual.

Nico frowned again. Had he just thought it would be great to run his hands through Will's hair? Nico found the thought, stomped it into the ground, and buried it where it would never again see the light of day. At least, he tried. His scowl deepened. The thought would not cooperate and kept popping up.

"What?" asked Will, touching his face as though suddenly conscious of himself, "What's on my face?" Will's eyes were trained on Nico's frown. He was panicking. There were no mirrors nearby. "Did some mark appear, or something?" Nico couldn't answer. He was busy grappling with the thought of tangling his fingers through Will's hair.

"Answer me, di Angelo, or I will smack you!"

"Oh," said Nico, coming back to reality, "Huh? No." Nico tore his eyes away from Will's hair and shuddered. He had to control himself. Both for his good and Will's. He didn't need another Percy situation. "Nothing's on your face," he said, "I was just… I was just thinking. Don't mind me."

"Well," said Will with a scowl, "What was I supposed to think when you suddenly started frowning at my face?" Will wasn't able to stop the small smile spread across his face afterwards. "I have no idea what that was."

"Maybe a blessing from dad?" Will said. He ventured the question, even if he had no faith it was true. Still, it was possible. He _had_ prayed to Apollo earlier. Maybe there was some prayer-lag going on.

Nico shook his head. He didn't think so. From what he'd managed to gather over the last few days, it didn't seem that Apollo was in any position to be handing out any favours to his children. Zeus, of course, was being a divine royal pain again. "I don't think it was your dad," he said.

"Jason told me there's still something wrong with the gift of prophecy." Will made a face. That much was true. "They said something happened to your dad in Athens, but we just don't know." Will sighed.

Over the last two days, Will had learned many things about his dad's possible state. Chief among them was the fact that no one really knew much about what Apollo was going through. It was another point of stress for Will. Sure, he and his dad weren't the closest, but Apollo _was_ still his father.

Will was rather concerned. He had no idea what Zeus was capable of. He definitely hoped that Zeus wouldn't make Apollo rebuild the walls of Troy as a mortal. Or, well, erect a skyscraper as the modern equivalent. Judging from all Zeus' irrational fits of rage, though, Will knew he had reason to be concerned for his father's well-being.

"So that was me?" asked Will, the scepticism practically dripping from his voice, "Is that what you're saying?" Nico nodded, although he wasn't sure what _had_ happened either. He had a feeling that it was Will's doing.

"I've never done that before," said Will, looking at his hands with a mixture of curiosity and wonder. "It…" Will trailed off. "It was a different kind of healing. I didn't even have to sing to my dad!" he said, almost excitedly. He _really_ didn't like singing. It reminded him of how all his talents were related almost _exclusively_ to healing, and maybe crippling attack-dogs.

Nico didn't really have any prior experiences to base a comparison on, but he decided to take Will on his word. "What I don't understand," said Will, looking at his arms as though they were new to him, "is why it healed _me_, too?" Nico thought about it, but no possible explanations came to mind.

"Maybe you can ask Chiron about it?" said Nico. It was the best suggestion he could come up with. Nico felt re-energized. In fact he felt rather _alive._ Still, he could feel that if he did any major _'underworld-ly stuff,'_ as Will called it, he would be back where they'd started.

A few minutes passed in silence. Nico stared at the ceiling. Will stared at Nico staring at the ceiling. It was Nico that broke the silence, a thought having crossed his mind. He looked Will in the eye, failing to notice the blush that crept up Will's face at being caught, and asked "Why are you doing this for me?" Nico took a deep breath. "What _am_ I to you?" Silence.

Nico looked down for a moment. He saw Will's hands trembling on the bed. It was strange, he thought, that it seemed as though the question alone had unsettled Will.

"Because I don't want you to fade…" said Will. His voice was shaky. It sounded like he was trying to steady both his voice and his hands at the same time, but was failing. Nico watched as Will clutched one of his trembling hands with the other to stop them both.

"That," said Will as Nico looked back up into his eyes, "You're someone I want to be friends with." A long sigh followed. "And…" Nico waited for a while, but it seemed as though Will's words had died in his throat.

"Never mind," said Will, averting his eyes. Nico's heart lurched in his chest. Had he been about to tell Nico that he felt something for the son of Hades?

Nico kicked the thought out of his mind. _"Impossible,"_ he said silently to himself.

"I'm not…" Nico frowned. Will was not _what?_ "Maybe someday I'll tell you," said Will. The words came so quickly, they were almost a garbled mess. Nico's frown deepened. He didn't think _someday_ was a satisfactory explanation. Still, it seemed as though Will didn't want to talk about it, so he didn't pursue the matter.

Another couple of minutes of silence followed. Nico and Will looked around awkwardly at _anything_ but each other, until finally, Will broke. "What was your nightmare about?" he asked. He had not forgotten, after all. The unreadable expression on Will's face was pushed away by a look of concern.

Nico noted, somewhat bitterly, that at least he could read _that_ look. Will was definitely an enigma, and one that was drawing Nico in more and more, as much as he didn't want to admit it. "Tartarus," said Nico. He said the word tersely, as though he couldn't wait to get it out of his mouth.

The word 'Tartarus' alone carried so much meaning, especially for Nico. Especially for those who had been there. Especially for those that knew he'd been down there and survived it, all on his own.

The temperature in the infirmary dropped even lower. Nico felt it, despite the lingering warmth from whatever healing magic Will had used on him. It was as if the very _name_ of that primordial evil Tartarus brought with it some of the malevolence rampant in the Pit.

Nico shuddered. Images of that terrible place flashed in his mind's eye. He wanted to scream, momentarily forgetting that he was safe elsewhere, in the infirmary, under the watchful and stern eye of its head healer Will Solace. Fortunately, Nico's throat didn't give him the voice to scream at the sudden terror that gripped him. Alaska might have been the land beyond the gods, but Nico knew that even that place was nothing compared to the _Darkness_ beyond them.

"Tartarus," said Will. There was a mixture of sympathy, fear, and awe in his voice. It managed to shake Nico out of his terror. He blinked as he looked around and reacquainted himself with his surroundings.

Nico looked at Will. "Annabeth…" said the son of Apollo, voice soft and uncertain. "She… I asked about you." Will blushed, but Nico didn't notice. "She told me you went to Tartarus alone?" asked Will. "That you survived that place on your own?"

There was a measure of hope in Will's voice. It was a hope that Annabeth had been lying, that Nico had not had to endure that terrible place all on his own. It was admirable, the thought that Nico had survived the most treacherous and evil place in the world, but at the same time, it worried Will.

"You asked after me?" said Nico, puzzled. _"And why Annabeth?"_ he wanted to add. He paused. He thought about it for a moment, and realized that Annabeth was one of the more sincere campers that he just couldn't bring himself to resent. It had probably seemed that they were close friends, or about as close friends as one could get to Nico di Angelo.

As for why Will was asking after him, Nico supposed that it was probably to learn more about him, the patient. Nico didn't even want to consider the other possibility, that Will was asking after him because he cared and actually _liked_ him. The implications were, while titillating, actually scary.

"She said I survived Tartarus on my own, huh?" said Nico. He laughed bitterly.

"I didn't _survive_ Tartarus on my own," said Nico, "I went there because I was stupid and overconfident, and I thought I could handle it. I was looking for the Doors of Death. I got too close… I got sucked in." Nico took a deep breath. "I got captured, and the only reason I'm still alive is because they _wanted_ me alive, to use as bait in Rome."

Nico trembled from the powerful negative memories that what he'd just said invoked. He drew in a deep breath to steady himself. He didn't need to remember the time he'd spent trapped in a bronze jar. "I didn't survive so much as I walked right into a trap. I thought I could do it, being the son of Hades and all," Nico's smile was small and bitter, "I forgot that not even the gods went to Tartarus, and for good reason."

"You're not giving yourself enough credit, Nico," said Will. He was concerned. His hand reached out and hovered tentatively over NIco's arm. "You survived long enough to even _be_ captured. I don't know what Tartarus is like…" The look that Nico shot him told him that he _didn__'t_ want to know. "But if even the gods don't want to go near it, then… It must be a terrible place."

Again, from the look on Nico's face, Will could tell that _terrible_ wasn't even close to describing it. "Any other demigod. Anyone else," said Will, letting a little bit of his bias shine through, "Even the great _Percy Jackson_… They would probably have not lived long enough to get tracked down and captured."

"Didn't you find the Doors, anyway?" asked Will. Nico nodded, slowly. His mind was sluggishly working through all that Will had said. "I don't know much of what happened in this whole war with Gaea… We didn't really get too much information, but I know the Great Prophecy, and if you found the Doors of Death, and led the Seven there, then this quest would never have succeeded without you."

Will gulped audibly. There was an awkward moment of silence between the two of them. "What you did was admirable. No one else could have done it! Why are you denying that you did something special?"

What followed was tense silence. Nico balled his fists. There was a surge of inexplicable surge of anger racing through his veins. "Because I don't want the attention!" said Nico. Will winced, but the other campers in their beds were fast asleep, and didn't even stir.

"I don't _want_ to be put up there on a pedestal!" Nico's voice was strained with effort. "I just…" Nico's voice broke. "I just want to be accepted." Nico's eyes widened. He clapped his hand over his mouth. Will's eyes sparkled in the darkness.

Will gripped Nico's other wrist. Nico flinched. "Being praised like that," Nico said with bitterness, "It's almost as bad as being driven away! Besides…" Nico choked back a sound of pain. "The last time it happened…" He had to catch his breath. In that moment, he thought to himself, "_Why am I even sharing this with Will?_"

"Nevermind," said Nico, seizing his hand back from Will's grasp. "You wouldn't understand," he growled. Will looked hurt. "_Great,_" Nico thought to himself. Will had just been trying to help and he had had to go run his mouth again. Nico looked away, trying not to show the tears in his eyes. He'd hurt the guy that was trying his best to get to know him and be a friend.

Perhaps the problem was that there was a part of Nico that was desperate, that wanted Will to be more than just a friend. Perhaps it was the fact that he was afraid of that part of him. Perhaps it was the fact that in his fear, he refused to acknowledge that he might have began developing feelings for Will.

The son of Apollo whispered Nico's name softly. Nico whirled on Will, eyes burning. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded. "What are you trying to prove? That you can make me a friend? That you can fix everyone? Because let me tell you something, Solace, I am not a broken bone that can just be fixed by some… some…" Nico couldn't think of a good enough insult. "… some _healer_!"

Nico didn't know why he was so angry all of a sudden. Will had just been trying to help. He had just been trying to understand. Will, technically, had done nothing wrong, and yet, Nico was raging at him, as though all Nico's pain was his fault.

Nico had been aiming to insult Will, but had failed at finding something that he _thought_ would make a good insult. Yet, the way that Will looked like he'd just been punched in the gut by the way that Nico had said the word '_healer_' in a voice practically dripping with venom, made it seem as though he _had_.

Nico couldn't help but feel guilty, then. He'd just insinuated that healing, which was practically the only thing that Will had even a shred of pride for, was something to be despised. Will didn't understand. He was just trying his best.

"No," said Will. "No…" The words were getting stuck in his throat. "Nothing like that, at all…" he said. There was a long moment of silence as Will tried to put his thoughts together. Lou Ellen had told him to take it slow, but it looked like he had to tell Nico the truth.

"I'm doing this _because_ I _understand_!" said Will after a while. Nico tried to pull his arm away in time, but Will was fast. His hand was grasping Nico's wrist with a vice-like grip. Will looked particularly hurt and angry.

Nico didn't believe Will one bit. How could Will possibly understand what he felt? Sure, he'd seen some evidence of melancholy dwelling underneath the surface of Will Solace, but the children of Apollo were all smiles and laughter.

They were all rays of sunshine in their own right, and they had never seen the kind of darkness and pain and suffering that Nico had.

"No, you don't!" said Nico. He was past the point of caring if the other campers in the infirmary heard his voice. They didn't stir. Nico had to wonder if he was keeping them asleep. "You're fucking Will Solace, head healer and head counsellor of Apollo!"

"People like you! Your siblings like you as head counsellor! They look up to you!" Nico stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He was so angry. He was angry that Will dared say that he understood what Nico had been through even if it was obviously not the case.

"Don't tell me that you understand what I've been through when you have _never_ even experienced being chased off!" said Nico. Memories of the ways that the campers had shown him he was not welcome after the Battle of Manhattan flashed before his mind's eye. "You have never even experienced being completely alone in the world with practically no one to lean on!"

Nico stopped when he realized that there were tears in Will's eyes, that there were wet trails down Will's cheeks. Will snapped at Nico. "Yeah, sure, my half-brothers and sisters 'like' me. But do you think I feel like I belong in Apollo's cabin? With children of Apollo?" Deafening silence followed as Nico tried to process what Will was saying. "You don't think I understand? You don't think I _know_ the feeling of not belonging?"

Will Solace? Not belonging? It was the most ridiculous thing that Nico di Angelo had ever heard, and he'd heard a _lot_ of things. Cool, collected, sometimes aggravating Will Solace did not feel like he had a place among his half-siblings? It was absurd! Nico looked at Will as though he'd grown a second head.

"I wanted to help you because I wanted to befriend someone who could maybe understand how I feel," said Will bitterly. He wiped the tears from his face with his hands. "I'm sorry for assuming anything," said Will. "What I've gone through is _nowhere_ even _close_ to what you've gone through," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I can tell you don't believe me," said Will with a bitter laugh. "I don't blame you." Will shook his head. "I'll just…" Will paused. "Never mind. Don't even think I said anything." Will looked away. "This conversation never happened."

"Will," said Nico, softly. The conversation had taken a turn for the worse. Nico should not have been too cynical. It was one of his flaws as a son of Hades. He never trusted anyone. He should not have been so defensive. He should not have thought the worst of the one person in camp that was trying _so hard_ to be his friend.

Nico felt bad. Whatever hurt that Will was feeling at that moment was all his fault. He tried to reach out, but found that he couldn't. His arm was dead where it lay. The strength had leached out of his body all over again.

"Go to sleep, di Angelo," said Will. His words were stiff. His body language, even more so. Without once looking at Nico again, Will folded his arms on the bed, and lay his head in the space between them.

Reluctantly, Nico turned his eyes to the ceiling. His mind whirled with thoughts and emotions, but not even he could fight the demands of a weary body. As soon as he'd let his defenses down, Nico drifted off into fitful sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: **Hello there! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I'd love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to leave a comment if you like this story so far. 3. It would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if you have any questions for me, send them over to my tumblr at _ .com_!


	4. Threads of Fate

**A/N: **Apologies for the late update. I was off at a planetarium yesterday. Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. :3.

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><p>When Nico woke up, it was a few hours later. The sun was high enough in the sky for the time to be almost noon. Will was elsewhere. He could tell that much by the absence of the incessant pestering that often came with his presence.<p>

There was no dip in the bed to indicate that Will had been sleeping there. The son of Apollo was nowhere to be seen. The chair where Will so often sat was unfolded, but empty. A cup of unicorn draught was on Nico's nightstand.

Nico would have ignored it if not for the fact that upon further inspection, he saw that there was a note underneath it. "_I have a few errands to run_," it said, "_If you wake up and I'm not back yet, drink this_." Nico made a face at the unicorn draught.

Nico was already feeling better. He didn't think he needed the unicorn drought. His body gave him the benefit of that delusion for a good two seconds before it dawned on him that all his muscles hurt. He was aching all over!

So much for that healing light.

Nico knew he wasn't being fair. He knew that the light _had_ fixed something about him. He no longer felt at risk of just fading, becoming a wandering soul with no purpose.

At the very least, the pull of death was no longer as powerful as it had been before.

Nico looked at the note again and realized there was more to it. "_If you're having second thoughts_," said the note, "_Flip me over_." Nico frowned, but, curious, did as the note asked. "_Doctor's orders, di Angelo_."

Nico rolled his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. It seemed easier than it was.

Not without much difficulty, Nico picked up the glass of draught and drank it. It was pleasant, compared to the gum that Will had forced him to chew during the battle. Soon after, Nico felt the ache dull in his arms and legs, then the rest of his body soon after.

Nico sighed and laid himself back down on the bed. He folded his arms on his stomach. "_Three days of this?_" he mused. It almost seemed surreal. Nico had not had a single day's rest or refuge from terrible thoughts since the beginning of the war with Gaea, after all.

It was very strange to finally be able to spend some time in peace and quiet. It wasn't until then that Nico realized how much he'd missed the quiet.

Half a minute passed before _finally_ Nico's tranquillity was shattered. The infirmary was _unnaturally_ quiet. Nico sat bolt upright and looked around. There was no one else in the infirmary save for himself, two sleeping demigods, and a third that he had never seen before, who was awake and eating a square of ambrosia gingerly.

Judging from the boy's looks, Nico decided that the demigod was a son of Ares. Well, the demigod's looks and the fact that the boy had a swollen cheek, and a really _bad_ black eye. He glared at Nico as though daring him to say something.

Nico knew that he shouldn't have used his powers then, but he felt like terrorizing someone. It was fun when he _meant_ to. It was just a trickle of power anyway. He summoned the shadows to himself, knowing that his face was probably darkening, and his eyes were burning with the fires of the Phlegethon itself.

Nico glared back at the son of Ares. The boy whimpered, shoved the rest of the ambrosia in his mouth, and turned away all in the space of three seconds.

Nico had to bite back a laugh.

Nico lay back down on his pillow. Where _was_ everyone? He wondered. Of course, the few Romans that had remained in Camp Half-Blood were probably gone now, having just stayed a little while longer so that they could recover enough to make the trip back to Camp Jupiter, but that did not explain the distinct lack of Greek demigods that were both _working_ in the infirmary, and _staying_ in it.

Other than the scrawny Apollo kid Andrew, who was sitting in a corner and reading a book, there was no one else. Andrew looked up from his book every once in a while, checking on the rest of the demigods in the infirmary. Nico frowned at the strangeness of it all.

Soon enough, Nico's day brightened considerably when Will Solace walked in through the open doorway of the infirmary. His day got worse when he realized that it had gotten better when Will appeared.

Nico made a face at himself and tried to scowl at Will. It probably looked more like constipated squinting. Nico forced himself to look at the ceiling instead, so he wouldn't seem so much a fool.

Nico thought that Will would go and take care of the other patients first, but much to his surprise, there was a beaming ray of sunshine—highly annoying—in his face. "Good morning, di Angelo!" said Will, cheerily, "I wasn't sure you would wake up while the sun was out."

"Shut up," grumbled Nico. If he could have, he would have slept until nightfall. As it was, it didn't seem like his body was giving him that much of a choice. "The morning isn't good," said Nico, "It's never good."

Nico threw up his arm over his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at Will, though he hoped that it would come across as him shielding himself from the bright light streaming into the infirmary through the wide-open windows. "Why can't it always be dark instead?" he complained.

There was a chuckle from somewhere to Nico's side. He assumed that Will had taken a seat on the chair again. He heard the scrape of the chair against the floor as it was dragged closer to the bed. "Because we're not all vampires, Nico," said Will.

Will was cheery again. He was entirely Will Solace again. Or at least, he was the Will Solace that Nico, along with everyone else, saw on the surface. "Now, I know this is going to sound ridiculous," said Will, his voice tentative, and the words measured, "I need to check if I missed anything when I healed you."

"Okay?" said Nico. He couldn't help the rising inflection of his voice. It came out as more of a question than a statement. He was not liking where this was heading.

Will was blushing, but Nico, with his arm over his eyes, did not see it. "I need you to take your shirt off," said Will. Nico felt his entire face ignite. Had he heard that right? "Yeah," said Will, his bluster faltering. "Y-you h-heard me," he said. "I need you to t-take your shirt off."

Nico lifted his arm from his eyes and squinted in the light. As his vision focused, he paid particular attention to Will's face. The boy was probably every bit as red, if not more red, than Nico felt. "Doctor's orders?" asked Nico, voice small and uncertain.

Will's blush lessened, and he flashed Nico with a smile. "Yeah," said the son of Apollo, "Doctor's orders," he said.

Nico grumbled before shyly turning his back to Will. He lifted his shirt by the bottom hem. "You know I'm still going to have to look at your front, Nico," said Will. Will smiled when he saw Nico's ears turn crimson.

"S-shut up, Solace!" Nico said, stammering. "I am trying to preserve my dignity here," he said. Still, he knew, despite his protestations, he was only delaying the inevitable. Sure enough, he was soon topless, and being examined by the head counsellor of the Apollo cabin.

A stray thought entered Nico's mind. He wondered if Will appreciated the sight of his naked torso and all the scars that lined it. He turned even redder as he considered what _he_ would think if the tables were turned.

Nico found himself wondering how Will would look without his shirt on.

Nico blinked three times. He forced the thoughts down as bile came up his throat. Why was he having these thoughts? They were inappropriate! "Shit," was the one word that Nico did not want to hear. Well, that or 'fuck.'

Nico winced when he felt Will's fingers on a particularly sensitive part of his arm. "I forgot about this when I healed you last night…" said Will, tracing the stitched cuts from Lycaon. Nico had to bite his lip to keep from whimpering.

"I'll be right back," said Will, leaving a confused and shirtless Nico di Angelo blinking after him. "These stitches need to get ripped out and replaced." Nico winced. That did not sound very pleasant. Will chuckled. "You've been through Tartarus, di Angelo," he said, "You can take a needle and some thread."

Nico scowled. "No offense to Reyna's medical skills, but this was very makeshift. You need better stitches." Nico made a sound of protest, but, yet again, he didn't really have a choice. Nico was the healer, so of course he knew better. Under his voice, the son of Apollo said "_Or maybe no stitches at all…_"

"Don't move," said Will, "I'll be right back."

Will walked toward the nearest cart of medical supplies and stood there, rummaging for something to remove the stitches with. He'd been standing there, hunched over the damn thing for a while before Nico noticed that Will was not moving.

Nico looked to one side. The son of Ares, who'd decided that Nico was sufficiently distracted, was frozen in the middle of taking a bite of another square of ambrosia. One of the other patients had his arms extended as though he was stretching. Andrew was suspended motionless in the middle of flipping a page on his book.

_Then_ he saw them. The Moirai. It was never a good sign when the Fates made themselves known in person.

Lachesis held up two lengths of yarn. One was considerably longer than the other. She passed the threads to Atropos. The old woman smiled at Nico. Then, her wretched shears snipped across the two threads. The sound reached across the infirmary, and echoed inside of Nico's soul.

Nico knew the message. Whomever those two threads belonged to would face death at the same time. How, and under what circumstances, the Fates did not say. They could not say. Yet, the warm smiles they sent Nico's way were far more unsettling than they were comforting.

Nico had to wonder whom the threads belonged to.

The Fates vanished, leaving the two strands floating in the air. The yarn turned golden, then spun around each other. Again, the message was clear. Those two threads had a destiny intertwined. A destiny shared. There was a niggling fear in the back of Nico's mind but he forced it down.

Nico was, after all, the son of the Lord of the Dead. One day he would die and sit at the foot of his father's throne. Those two lives that had just been shown to him would be two of infinitely many fated to end. Nico was not afraid. If the thread _did_ represent him, he was not afraid.

Nico took a deep breath, having not realized that he had stopped breathing. Then, time began to flow again. The two threads of life dissolved into flecks of light.

Nico blinked once, and all of a sudden, Will was on him, pushing him back down on the bed.

"I told you not to move, Nico," said Will, as Nico's mind struggled to comprehend everything. "I don't need you accidentally busting those open," he said, gesturing at the wounds.

Will sat down and told Nico to relax, none the wiser to the ominous visitation that Nico had just had. He got to work immediately after. The stitches came off rather easily as they were, after all, just makeshift ones. Nico made a few sounds of discomfort as Will sewed the wounds shut with newer, sturdier stitches.

Over all, however, Will's hands were surprisingly steady and gentle. The experiences was far more pleasant than he had anticipated.

Will dabbed at the area with a cotton ball. _That_ part was unpleasant. Will's hands came away bloody from the whole ordeal. The wounds didn't look like they had properly closed, probably because of the lack of proper attention that had been given to them.

Will had to wonder why. Usually, demigods healed faster. Then again, he supposed, most demigods did not have to deal with shadow-travelling two people, and a forty-foot gold-and-ivory statue of Athena across half the world.

Will sighed and wiped his hand on a clean towel he'd brought before tossing the cloth into a bin of soiled fabrics. "There," said Will, turning on his smile, "Sorry for all the touching, but it was kinda necessary."

Nico shrugged, then winced when the sudden action made the wound and the new stitches sting. "Ow," he said. Will rolled his eyes. "Thanks for a lot for _reopening_ them," said Nico, the sarcasm plain enough on his voice to cause no offence. Will rolled his eyes again.

"Where _is _everyone, Solace?" said Nico. "This place was packed yesterday…"

Will thought it would be better to provide a demonstration rather than an explanation. It was easier to keep it secret that way. Will's hands began to glow again, and Nico found himself, invariably, enchanted by the way that the light danced upon Will's skin like sunlight filtering through water onto something in the depths.

The wound closed a little. Will sighed and the light died. It took a lot out of him to try and close the wound just a little bit. Despite the fact that the light had rejuvenated him when he'd first discovered it, it now took a toll on his body.

Will supposed that the way the light restored his own vitality was a blessing of his father's. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Nico's question.

"Have you been practising that?" asked the son of Hades, "It seems like you're more in control now."

Will's eyes darted around the infirmary for a moment. There was a nervous energy about the son of Apollo. "All of the others had miraculous recoveries," said Will, "and were discharged early this morning."

Will leaned in, much to Nico's chagrin, and whispered in his ear, "I talked to Chiron about it. He doesn't really know, but he said he'd think about it and tell me if he remembers anything." Will rubbed his upper arm.

"If you don't mind, Nico," Will said, "I'd like to keep it just between us three for now. Nico was confused. He didn't know why Will would want to keep his incredible powers under wraps, but he went with it anyway. It dawned on Will that he was still clutching Nico's arm. He quickly withdrew his hands and backed away.

"Alright," said Nico, edging slightly away from Will. There was a part of him that wanted to feel Will's touch again so much that he was actually afraid of it. Aside from his touch aversion, that was the other reason he moved away. There was a gentleness to the son of Apollo's touch, at least when he wasn't angry, that was so different. In a good way. Nico didn't like the fact that he was thinking like that.

"_Just_ a healer my ass, Solace," said Nico with a smirk. "I take it you healed the others?" Will nodded. Nico had not been awake to see it, but Will found himself unable to sleep until everyone else was healed. The blessing that made his own light rejuvenate him lasted well into the morning.

The others that were in the infirmary presently were patients that Will did not have the energy to get to, or, in the case of the Ares kid, new arrivals.

"I won't tell anyone," said Nico, "Don't worry." He still didn't understand why Will wouldn't want the others to know about the amazing ability to heal with light.

It took Nico a moment to realize that perhaps the only possible reason was the same one that explained why _he_ didn't want to get recognized for his so-called '_accomplishment_' of surviving Tartarus.

"Solace," said Nico, venturing to start the conversation for once. "About what we talked about last night…" Will was taken by surprise. He actually flinched at the reference. Sadness briefly shadowed his handsome—Nico smacked himself mentally for the observation—features. Then, the sadness was gone, replaced by a stupid smile and an obviously-fabricated facade of ignorance.

"What do you mean?" said Will, in an altogether too-enthusiastic tone of voice, "You slept like a baby!" Nico glared at Will. "We… didn't… talk last… night…" Will coughed to clear his throat, then hung his head.

"It was worth a shot," said Will, with a shrug. "Look, it's okay. I understand you don't believe me. I thought about it this morning, too. I wouldn't have believed it myself."

There was bitterness in Will's voice. "So just…" he said, "Let it go, please?" Nico was about to speak, when Will continued. "I thought you would understand, but I guess I sprang it on you without warning, so it was totally my bad—" Will clamped his mouth shut when he realized that he was rambling.

Will gripped his hand tightly to prevent it from trembling.

Nico wanted to slap Will. He sincerely did. Will was not helping alleviate the guilt he had for shooting down Will's attempt at making him feel like there were people that cared enough to try to understand what he'd been through.

Then again, Nico supposed, Will didn't owe it to him to get rid of the guilt. It was, after all, Nico's fault.

"No," said Nico. "No. I don't want to let it go." Nico looked at Will. "I feel bad." Will rolled his eyes. The temptation to slap the son of Apollo came back twice as hard. "Don't do that!" Nico hadn't meant to snap, but Will had gone and aggravated him.

"I really do feel bad. You were trying to make me feel better," said Nico with a small smile. "You're giving me a chance." Nico sighed. "I owe it to you to do the same."

Will was twitching slightly. Nico did not know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. "But," Nico said, "I don't trust people easily. You said it yourself, too. What you said is difficult to believe." Will shrugged apologetically.

"You?" said Nico, incredulity plain in his voice, even if he tried to hide it. "Will Solace. Head counsellor of Apollo cabin. Head healer. _You_ feel like you don't belong?" he said. Nico tried to keep from being too cynical, but it was difficult since cynicism was second nature to him now.

"It sounds ridiculous!" Will bit his lip. He looked hurt. Nico had gone a tad too far. "Sorry," said Nico, stammering. "I didn't mean to—Fuck." Nico slapped himself mentally. "Anyway," said Nico, "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." A smile split Will's face.

Will went in, arms outstretched, as though he was going for a hug. It was something he did a lot, but he'd forgotten one crucial thing about Nico. The son of Hades edged away from him as much as possible without risking falling off the edge of the bed. "Oh. Right," said Will, "No touching." The son of Apollo looked somewhat disappointed.

Will blushed. He sat back down in his chair and regarded Nico with a level, unreadable look. "Thank you," he said, gratefulness in his voice, though there was an undertone of disappointment about the hug.

Will leaned forward and smiled bitterly. "I suppose it _is_ difficult to believe, isn't it?" he said. "I mean, after all, I'm pretty sure that all you saw before all this—" Will gestured at the infirmary. "—was happy Will. Right?"

Nico nodded, though he had to admit that prior to this whole infirmary thing he'd stupidly committed himself to, he had never given much thought to who Will Solace actually could be underneath all the smiles and the laid-back attitude.

By Hades, Nico had not even known that Will had the capacity to be aggressive. He had not known that Will could be brave enough to stare _him_ down, the child of Hades, feared by all the other demigods.

Nico realized, at that moment, that sometimes people used happiness to mask their sorrows. He realized that sometimes the happiest faces hid the most tormented of souls. Nico had never bothered to hide himself, because sadness was sort-of expected of children of Hades anyway. He had not considered how difficult it must have been to be a brooding son of Apollo, one of the most boisterous and eccentric gods in the pantheon.

"Yeah," said Nico, "You have to admit, it's pretty damn convincing." He didn't want to look Will in the eye. He missed the fact that Will's lips curled up in a smile when he implied that he was beginning to believe that there was more to Will than met the eye.

Nico stared at the ceiling. "But why don't you feel like you belong?" he asked. "You have everything you could want. Friends. A family that loves you. You're popular. You're a valued member of the camp." Nico looked briefly at Will. "Next to you, what am _I_ to Camp Half-Blood?"

"I'm that creepy kid no one likes." Nico felt something prickling at his skin. He wondered if Will was doing that. "Sorry, _mostly_ no one likes. How does someone in your position feel like he doesn't belong, Will Solace?" said Nico. "I don't understand."

Seeking advice from Chiron on how to get Nico to open up to him was something that Will had never thought he would do. In retrospect it was rather stupid of him to have not done so earlier. Chiron was older than all the demigods in camp put together, after all.

Will remembered Chiron's words clearly.

"_He's had a difficult life, Nico di Angelo… Trusting people is not very high on the list of things he's good at. If you ask me, I think sometimes he prefers the company of the dead to the living. They can't lie to him. He commands them, after all. They can't hurt him like others _have."

Will agreed with Chiron's wisdom. "_If you want him to open his heart to you, maybe you should take a chance and open yours to him?_"

Will breathed deeply. He looked at Nico with a serious expression. "Maybe all those things are true," said Will. "Maybe." Will shook his head. "But what if I tell you that it all just makes me feel like I don't belong even more? That I don't _deserve_ all the praise and the responsibility?"

Nico frowned. He couldn't understand why.

"I'm a son of Apollo," said Will, "All of my brothers and sisters are great at archery. They're great at singing. At playing musical instruments. Some of them are even healers almost as good as me!" Despite the rising volume of his voice, Will was still speaking in a muted tone.

"What have I got?" said Will, bitterly, "Only the last, and almost none of the others."

Will's hands were trembling. "I can't shoot an arrow straight to save my life," he said, "You've experienced that the best my musical abilities can get is a whistle that is _so bad_ it can literally incapacitate people."

"I'm _just_ a healer. I feel like I'm not a worthy son of Apollo. While everyone else is out there saving the world, I'm in here, helping the ones that got hurt in the process. What have I ever done that's been brave?" asked Will. Maybe he was hoping for an answer. He didn't get one. "What have I ever done that's worth being proud of? I'm _just_ a healer," he said.

If Will had been trembling earlier, he was _shaking,_ now.

Nico could feel the vibrations coming through the bed. If he'd ventured to look closer, he would have noticed that Will was crying. "During the battle," said Will, "You summoned skeletons even when I told you not to, but you managed to save us. Cecil saved the camp by messing with those onager things. Lou Ellen fought the Romans and turned some of them into piglets. What did I do? I ran away as a distraction."

Nico's breath hitched in his throat. He wanted to say that it wasn't true, but that _was_ the extent of what Will had done then. Still, it _had_ been vital for their success. If Will had not distracted the Romans, gods knew what would have happened. Nico's voice wouldn't come. "Sometimes, I don't even feel worthy of being a demigod."

Nico didn't know what to say. He said the first thing that came to mind. "You had a mighty fine dog whistle…" he said, softly. Nico turned on his side. He only managed to see Will's red, tear-streaked face before Will turned away to hide his shame.

The laugh that came from the healer was artificial and bitter.

Nico sighed.

After a deep breath, Nico started talking. He didn't know why he felt comfortable talking, but the fact that Will had opened up to him definitely helped. "After the Battle of Manhattan," said Nico, "They loved me because of the way I fought in the war. I practically saved Olympus because I managed to convince my father to fight for us. Even the Ares kids thought I was cool." _That_ memory was warm.

"They were in awe when I built the Hades cabin with an army of skeletal warriors. I was accepted. Or, well, I was at least really well tolerated," said Nico, his tone turning bitter. "For a while."

Will nodded. His head was still turned to the side. His eyes were still averted. He was too ashamed to show his face to Nico.

Will remembered those times very well. That was when he had started developing feelings for Nico. He'd simply not had the courage then, much like now, to do anything about the burgeoning infatuation in his heart. When he'd _finally_ managed to work up the courage to talk to Nico, he'd vanished.

"Then," said Nico, his voice shakier than he'd expected it to be. To be entirely truthful, he was afraid that the same thing would happen now as it had then. "The glory of victory faded…" Nico laughed bitterly.

"Something happened. Almost as soon as they accepted me, they started turning me away," said Nico. He didn't remember Will at all after the battle. He couldn't think of a time when he had interacted with Will. The truth was that Will had only ever dared watch Nico from afar back then. "They started looking uneasy around me whenever I showed up. Eventually they started avoiding me."

Nico drew a deep breath. "They did all they could to forget that I was even in the camp." There was an old pain in Nico's words that was so palpable that it made Will cringe.

Will felt guilty. He did not regret driving Nico away. He had done no such thing. What he did regret was not doing more to make Nico feel welcome. At the same time, Will couldn't help but also feel anger. He felt anger toward the other campers for judging Nico for being a son of Hades.

"I left," said Nico, a weariness overtaking the bitterness in his voice. "I wasn't welcome." There was a sour twist to Nico's lips. "It's not like anyone noticed I was gone.

Will wanted to say that _he_ had noticed. That _he_ had hoped Nico would show up and stay again. Only, Nico never did. He showed up from time to time, but only for brief periods of time, and Will never got the chance to approach him. "I went to the underworld," said Nico, "I helped there. I found my half-sister… I found the Romans… Even _they_ were wary of me. Child of Pluto. Bad omen. Not welcome. Not always."

Will was satisfied that his face was no longer as red as it had been, but he could do nothing about the tear-tracks across his cheeks. He looked at Nico and found the expression on Nico's face to be so world-weary, he felt like he was looking at the face of an old man. "I left there, too." Nico had no right to be so tired of the world at such a young age. "I wasn't welcome anywhere. Of course I wasn't."

Nico bared his teeth at Will in an effort to inject levity into the conversation. "I'm a child of the Underworld, after all," he said. "People fear me." Nico's voice trailed off into little more than a whisper when his little joke failed. It was difficult to hear his words. They were just _barely_ discernible through the ambient sounds of the infirmary and the camp outside it.

Will sniffled. He wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his hand. "Well," he said, forcing a little smile, "You _are_ somewhat abrasive, di Angelo." Will found that even forcing a smile helped to lighten a situation. "But I'm not afraid of you," he said. Defiance burned in his startlingly-blue eyes.

"You should be," said Nico, matter-of-factly, looking into Will's eyes. The pain that he'd been carrying around for years felt somewhat lessened. He had received a measure of trust from Will. He'd extended the same in response. It was just like that time with Reyna, except he was in the position that Reyna had been.

"Dream on," said Will. He looked Nico in the eye. He told the son of Hades the truest words he had yet spoken. "What's there to be afraid of? That you're different? That you're the son of Hades? I'm not afraid of you any more than I am afraid of the dark." Will wasn't afraid of the dark. At all.

"I want to know you," said Will, "And I want you to know that there _is_ someone who kind-of understands how you feel."

Nico raised an eyebrow at Will. "Really?" he said, cracking a smirk. "Can I meet this someone?"

Will blushed. "Oh shut up, di Angelo," he said.

Nico's smirk widened. "You first, Solace."

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><p><strong>AN: **Alright. There we are. Ominous appearance of the Fates, setting up for a really long series, check. Now to find an ancient evil that will be the primary antagonist. :P. I'm just kidding. I am _not_ following Rick Riordan's formula.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, writing it. Aren't you glad that Nico and Will are making some progress? Yes? 3. Oh my dears, you have no idea what's coming.

Anyway. Leave a review, please! I love reading them. They motivate me to get the coming weeks' chapters out there. I would love it if you could visit my tumblr over at .com and leave me an ask. My inbox is feeling rather lonely at the moment.

I'll see you all again on Thursday!


	5. A Healer Like Him

**A/N: **I know it's late, but I worked my butt off to try and get this to you guys as fast as I could. I've been dealing not only with motivational issues recently (I may or may not be burned out with all the writing I've been doing) but I've also been really busy with university and whatnot. Regardless, here is the final chapter of Three Days in Darkness, and I'll see you with the next mini-series, _No Mercy for the Storm_, coming soon, hopefully next week. 3.

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><p>Will was blushing furiously. This was a story that he did not recount at all, not even to his closest friends. Fortunately, the infirmary was blessedly empty. "And that is how I ended up with a concussion from a Satyr hoof," he said, finishing the story and turning more red than he had ever imagined possible.<p>

There was a reason that Will did not particularly like retelling this story. He still wasn't quite over it. The fact that he was a son of Apollo made the fact that he was so bad at archery all the more shameful. He had a strong enough arm to send an arrow halfway to the strawberry fields only to hit a poor satyr who had _happened_ to have been walking under its arc, but only _after_ he missed the target by a wide margin.

Granted, Will thought to himself, that had been a rather freak incident. Normally, he landed the arrow somewhere _on_ the target, but he supposed on that day, he was more bothered about his mediocrity than usual.

Nico, on the other hand, was trying his best not to laugh. The image of a Satyr delivering a kick to Will's head would forever be embedded in his mind. Even so, he was trying to be at least a little sensitive. From what Will had told him earlier, about insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, Nico knew that the topic of archery was a very tender point for Will.

Nico looked at Will's ridiculously red face and said, with a smirk, "You _do_ need to work on your archery more, Solace." Nico was trying his best to look friendly, but given _who_ he was, that was easier said than done. He was sure that the urge to laugh was palpable on his face.

Will turned even redder. That was the tipping point for Nico. He couldn't help himself anymore. He started laughing. It was a few moments before he got a grip on himself, the scene of a Satyr kicking Will on the head was playing over and over again in his mind's eye.

Nico looked at Will, finally able to open his eyes after having to squeeze them shut because of his laughter. Will looked slightly hurt. Nico immediately regretted losing control. "I didn't mean to laugh at your archery…" said Nico, looking apologetically at Will. "I just… I had this strangest image of you getting roundhouse-kicked by an angry Satyr."

Nico pursed his lips. The words 'roundhouse-kicked by an angry Satyr' triggered the image in his mind once more, and threatened to force him into another round of raucous laughter.

There were a few moments of silence that passed before Will started laughing too.

Nico's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Will and mused that for someone who claimed he didn't have very good musical talents, that this particular son of Apollo had a rather musical laugh. Or at least, it sounded musical to him. Nico frowned inwardly. He was not about to admit to that fact any time soon.

"How bad did you feel?" said Nico. He was genuinely curious. He wanted to know how Will had taken the experience. Nico had to admit that it was a rather morbid curiosity that he had.

"About what?" said Will, still blushing. "How bad did I feel about getting kicked up the side of the head by an angry satyr?" There was another round of laughter. Will had never been able to laugh at himself like this before. He felt as though he was floating on top of clouds. "Or about missing the target so badly that I hit a Satyr nowhere near the range?"

Nico raised an eyebrow at Will. "The fact that you got hurt because you missed the target so badly," he said. He regretted the words almost instantly. He hadn't meant to sound so blunt.

Will scrunched up his face. The laughter had drained away. "I felt _really_ bad," said the son of Apollo. His ears were completely red, but his voice was no longer filled with mirth. Seeing Will's expression change from happy to grim was a somber experience for Nico. "I remember thinking '_what a son of Apollo I am. Can__'t even shoot an arrow straight,'_ and they kept ribbing me about it."

Will shook his head and grimaced. "Of course, they thought it was all in good fun. I laughed at it. Laughed at myself along with them…" Will's expression was pained. "It was just pretend, though."

Will looked at Nico, and the bed that he was laying upon. "But, at night, while I was lying in that same bed," he said. It was Nico's turn to blush. "I beat myself mentally for not being better at archery."

Nico felt bad for laughing, now. "The jokes they made," said Will, sadness creeping into his voice, "I know they were jokes but they hurt more than the lump on my head." Will looked away, his gaze turning distant. "It was difficult to look at everyone the same way after… Actually, it was difficult to look at myself the same way, to tell you the truth."

Nico sighed. He was tempted to squeeze Will's shoulder in solidarity, but he held himself back. He didn't know if Will would appreciate it, but at the same time, he didn't particularly feel like touching Will, either.

For Nico, at least, physical contact was still a very big sticking point. Nico blinked, surprised to see startlingly blue eyes looking straight at him. "Anyway," said Will, almost dismissively. Nico frowned and thought about how hypocritical Will was for dismissing his own problems. "Sorry for bringing you down, again."

Nico frowned again as Will looked away and released a long, drawn-out sigh that was heavy with weariness. A few moments of silence passed between Nico and Will before the glum look was wiped from Will's face. The son of Apollo smiled at Nico. The entire room seemed to brighten, but Nico could see the sadness dwelling behind Will's eyes.

Nico wanted to say something to Will. He wanted to say that Will didn't have to pretend to be happy around him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had no idea if Will was doing it for himself, too.

"Anyway," said Will, his teeth bright in the sunlight, "I have other patients to attend to, and other errands to run around the camp." Nico watched Will's every move, wondering just what part, exactly, was the real Will Solace and what was just a facade. "I was maybe thinking of getting in some archery practice while no one's at the range."

Nico raised an eyebrow. Was Will so ashamed of his archery that he only ever tried when no one was around to see him? Nico shook his head and fixed Will with a strange look. The son of Apollo was too busy rambling to notice. "Then maybe I'll go and find some herbs, you know, for emergencies."

Will produced a jar of leaves from under the bed, startling Nico out of his thoughts. He had to wonder where on earth Will managed to get the damn thing. "Then maybe I'll try and pray to dad and see if everything is alright on his side of the world…"

Nico watched as an unreadable expression shadowed Will's face for a moment. There was resentment, but at the same time, worry. Nico wondered if he should say something. "Then I'll come back and check on you with lunch," said Will, looking at Nico, cheeriness overtaking his manner once again, "That sound good?"

"Solace," said Nico, after a moment of silence. There was a smirk on his face. "You like the sound of your own voice too much, don't you?" Nico had decided that there was a more appropriate time to ask the deeper questions. Nico's expression softened. The smirk was replaced with a genuine smile. "Yeah, sure," he said, as his voice grew distant. "That sounds good."

Will nodded, silently, then turned his back to leave. Seeing Will's back jolted Nico out of his thoughts. He reached out tentatively with his hand, but stopped, and pulled it back before he could touch Will. "Hey Will," he said, softly.

Will stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Nico. Much to his surprise, Nico was looking elsewhere. Nico's eyes were unfocused, or at least they were trained on a point in the distance. "Thanks," said Nico. Will's heart skipped a beat. "I believe you." Will felt a warmth spread from his chest, radiating from there throughout the rest of his body. "Thanks for trying to understand." Will's fingertips tingled with the warmth.

Will smiled. His ears turned red. He nodded silently, again. Nico saw Will's little nod, and tiny smile from the corner of his vision. His own battered heart thumped in his chest.

Will walked out the door and, just beyond the threshold, he paused for a moment. He wiped his eyes. He breathed deeply. Then he put on his best, brightest smile for the rest of the camp to see as he left the Big House to do whatever it was that needed to be done that day. No one but his closest friends, and now, Nico di Angelo, knew what truly was going on inside his head.

Nico was so engrossed in his own thoughts, as chaotic as they were, that he did not notice that Will had returned to the infirmary. "How are you feeling?" the voice of the healer startled Nico so much that he would have fallen off the edge of his bed if Will had not been quick enough to react.

Will's hand darted out and gripped his shoulder firmly. Nico found the touch surprisingly gentle and warm, but it still made him somewhat uncomfortable. He grunted and removed the hand from his person with a shrug of his shoulders. He mumbled something about being able to stop himself from falling and not being a helpless child, but Will only shook his head.

"I take it you're feeling at least a little better?" said Will, with a chuckle in his voice. The crossed expression on Nico's face softened, and he nodded in agreement. "Okay, that's great," said Will, beaming at the boy in the bed. Nico couldn't help but blush. Will's cheeriness was infectious, as well as irritatingly attractive.

In that moment, Nico vowed to himself that he would never, _ever_, admit to any living being that he found Will's smile attractive.

"Well," said Will. There was a smirk on Will's face that made Nico's heart skip a beat, but not because he found it attractive. Nico felt heat rise to his cheeks. It wasn't something that he liked to do. He still had many of the values that had been taught to him as he grew up, after all. "You know what you have to do."

Nico scowled at the growing stupid grin on Will's face. The healer laughed at his expression—the nerve!—and turned his back to give Nico some semblance of a chance to 'preserve' his dignity. Thankfully, Will had drawn the curtains around the bed and no one else had to see his pasty, scar-lined body.

"Done," said Nico. He was less than entertained by the fact that he had to strip off his shirt, but some small part of him, the part that was the un-suppressed hormonal teenager, idly wondered whether Will liked what he saw. Nico definitely did not like what he saw. He found the scars ugly. He found _himself_ rather ugly. "You can touch me," he said, after a moment.

Nico's consent was begrudging at best. "I just don't want you to say—"

'_Gods,_' Nico thought. '_Gods, don__'t say it,_' he begged, silently, when he saw the sparkle of mischief in Will's eyes. He would not admit that the phrase was beginning to grow on him, but at the same time, it was getting rather tiresome.

"Doctor's orders!" said Will. There was an aggravating grin plastered on his face. Nico found himself having to resist the urge to punch Will in the face. Will was far too pretty for his own good, thought Nico, only to immediately berate himself for thinking such a thing. It only made Nico want to punch Will even more.

"—again." Nico scowled. Earlier in the day, he had wanted to hug Will, though that was primarily because he understood the pain of feeling like you didn't belong. However, things had changed, and he was sorely tempted to slap Will instead. "You know you can't use _doctor__'s orders_," he said, in his best imitation of Will's voice, "as an excuse to boss everyone around!"

Nico's scowl deepened when Will just continued grinning at him as though that was _exactly_ what "doctor's orders" was. Nico still hadn't quite figured out that it was specifically to boss _him_ around, but Will decided to keep that little fact to himself.

Will shrugged and pulled up the chair from underneath the bed. Nico couldn't help but watch and marvel at how smooth and relaxed Will's movements seemed to be. Then he realized something quite tragic about them. They looked extremely practised.

"Sure, di Angelo," said Will, with a smirk that suddenly didn't seem all too convincing to Nico. "_You_ seem to be perfectly fine with me bossing you around with _doctor__'s orders_." Nico sputtered. He blushed. Then he pursed his lips and glowered at Will. Whatever he had to say had evaporated immediately.

Will grinned. Nico scowled, both because it was infuriating to see Will's ever-present cheer, as well as the fact that it no longer looked genuine to him. Will's fingers were feather-like on his skin. Nico shivered at the touch. "It looks like you're healing really well," said Will.

Light, warm fingers that left a tingling trail of comfort across his skin traced the stitched-up wounds. Will could barely even think of having to deal with a wound like that with no proper medical attention, much less the probable terror of having to face the were-wolf king Lycaon. "It must have hurt really badly when you got it…" said Will, wistfully.

Will winced, suddenly. Will clutched his own arm. Sympathy pains were flaring in his own arm.

Nico shrugged. "Well, maybe?" he said, not entirely sure how to respond. He wanted to say that it was a stupid question, but he didn't want to be needlessly antagonistic. "I was a bit too tired to care," he said. Nico yawned. He remembered how sleepy he had been for the vast majority of the time back then.

"Shadow travelling half the globe was quite…" Nico paused. He was searching for the best word to describe it. "Draining," he said, deciding that nothing else came close enough. Will raised a fist to his mouth to stifle a yawn of his own. The expression that followed was rather cross. Nico didn't quite understand the way that Will got angry whenever he talked about how he'd pushed himself almost too far with the shadow-travelling.

Will started talking. Nico almost dreaded the words that would come next, mostly because of the stern, almost-motherly expression that was clear on Will's face. "Don't be getting any ideas about shadow travelling out of here," said Will. The look that he shot Nico was withering.

"I told you," said Will. Nico prayed to the gods that the son of Apollo wouldn't say _that_ particular phrase again. "No more Underworld-ly stuff!" Nico wondered what he had done to deserve this. "Do—"

"Don't say it!" blurted out Nico.

"Doctor's orders!" said Will, with a cheeky grin that Nico wanted to slap off of his stupid face.

"Ugh!" said Nico, grumbling under his breath about Will's delusions of professionalism. However, the truth of the matter, was that secretly, Nico was beginning to like the phrase. The admission, though it was only in silence, and only to himself, was enough to make him hate the phrase even more.

What made it livable for Nico was the fact that it seemed to be something that Will only used on him. He had totally _not_ been eavesdropping on Will's interactions with the other patients to find out if _doctor__'s orders_ was a universally Will thing, or whether it was something that Will used _only_ with Nico.

Nico did not want to admit it, but the fact that _doctor__'s orders_ seemed, so far, to be uniquely between himself and Will, made him feel special. In an ambiguously good way. The phrase gave Nico a strange sense of kinship with Will. Well, apart from the strange bond that they had developed the moment Nico realized that Will had been telling the truth about not feeling like he belonged.

"Can I put my shirt back on?" asked Nico. He did not know what possessed him to do it, but he felt like teasing Will. "_Or_ are you enjoying having me at your mercy too much?"

The moment the words left Nico's mouth, he started blushing. Will blushed, as well. Will gulped, audibly, then waved his hand dismissively as he tried to regain his composure. Nico had managed to get Will's voice stuck in his throat.

Nico looked abashedly away, cheeks burning with embarrassment at what he'd done. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on, accidentally threading his arms through the head-hole thrice before finally getting the damn thing on properly.

"It was for purely medical reasons that I made you take your shirt off, di Angelo," said Will, after a few moments of stuttering and sputtering, and basically failing to make any coherent words. "Don't flatter yourself too much," he teased.

Nico only blushed even harder. "Has anyone come by to visit you?" asked Will after a brief silence. The question took Nico off-guard. Will looked at Nico and was surprised to see him looking down, with downcast eyes. "I'll take that as a no," said Will, sympathy clear in his voice. Will wanted to reach over and offer some comfort to Nico, but he knew that the touch would not be welcome.

"Yeah, no" said Nico, his voice soft. Will could barely make out the words. "I didn't even think about that," he said. Nico was dejected. He had been too occupied with Will Solace, and his conflicting emotions about the son of Apollo, that he had not even considered the absence of his half-sister and his other friends.

"I thought that maybe, at least, Hazel would come by and see me before she left." Nico's voice was impossibly softer than the first time. The sadness tugged at Will's heart. The temptation to hug Nico was almost insurmountable. "Maybe she was just so busy, that she forgot about me." Nico sighed and rolled on his side. He turned his back to Will. He didn't want the son of Apollo to see the tears that were welling in his eyes.

"Nico," said Will, in a sympathetic tone of voice. "What on earth are you talking about?" he said. "Frank, Hazel, and Reyna are still here." Will watched with a smile that grew as Nico's trembling stilled.

Nico raised a hand to his face and wiped away the tears that had fallen, despite his best efforts to stop them. There was a moment of silence before slowly, Nico rolled back over and faced Will with a raised eyebrow. Will noted that Nico's eyes were slightly red, but he said nothing about it.

Will was pretty sure that Nico would not appreciate his emotional vulnerability being pointed out. "The Romans left, yeah," he said, "Most of them, at least. Reyna and the others stayed, though." Will smiled at Nico. "I think they want to make sure you get out of here okay first."

Nico gawked at Will. He had never thought there would be someone out there that would care that much about him. He had hoped, for the longest time, but he would always be the forgotten one. "Really?" he said, his voice small and vulnerable, and incredulous all at the same time.

"Well…" Will's voice was slow and uncertain. Had Nico looked, he would have seen Will twiddling his thumbs. "I'm not really sure what they're actually staying for," he said. The look of disappointment on Nico's face was heartbreaking. "I never _really_ talked to them… They're quite intimidating, actually. _You__'re _intimidating, too…" Will clapped a hand over his mouth as he realized what he'd said.

Nico had to laugh. The thought of Will finding him intimidating, after _everything_ that had happened between them was ridiculous. There was also the fact that Nico, in turn, found talking to Will to be intimidating, as well. "Anyway," said Will, a blush creeping into his cheeks, "They've been hanging around the Big House when they think I haven't been watching."

Will shook his head from side to side. "I'm not sure why they're not coming in and visiting, but they're there, every day. Piper's walking by and pretending to not look into the window as we speak, actually." Nico looked in the direction that Will cocked his head, and sure enough, he saw Piper walk by.

"Percy and Jason started working on a shrine to some—" Will waved his hand in the air. Nico noted that if Will was talking in Italian, that he would look the part. "—minor goddess. Kimmer—something, I think it was." He said. "Everyone else is making sure nothing's damaged too badly and repairing whatever is."

Will shook his head from side to side in disapproval. "They _should_ be visiting you when they have the time," said Will, "but I'm not sure why they aren't." He said, idle wonder in his voice.

Nico could think of a number of reasons why his friends weren't visiting. It was probably Annabeth's doing. He was pretty sure that Jason, had there been no one to stop him, would have barrelled into the infirmary the first chance that he got. Annabeth was intelligent. She probably knew that Nico would need his rest, and made sure that everyone stayed away so that he could recover in peace.

"I—I don't know either," said Nico. He was stammering. For some bizarre reason, that he didn't himself fully comprehend, he was feeling embarrassed that there was potentially someone that cared enough to make sure that he was recovering in the best circumstances possible.

Nico didn't want to consider the alternative: that Annabeth had figured out that he was _somewhat_ attracted to Will. That Annabeth didn't want everyone else to visit him so that he could have time alone with the son of Apollo. The redness in Nico's cheeks only intensified. He felt as though at any moment, his face would spontaneously combust. "Maybe they _don__'t_ have the time to visit. I'm sure they're busy with their own problems. I'm sure I'll see them when I get out of here."

Nico nodded to himself. Will raised an eyebrow at Nico's sudden change of attitude. If anything, it seemed, to Will that Nico was reassuring himself that his friends had not forgotten him. Will didn't think it would be appropriate to press the matter.

Instead, Will shrugged. He leaned forward in his chair. "Well," he said, "like I told you. You have friends." Will looked over Nico. His eyes wandered over the thin body of the son of Hades before meeting dark, weary eyes. "I'm glad you decided to stay," he blurted out after a moment of awkward silence.

Will quickly looked down at his hands. They were trembling again. _Gods_, moaned Will inwardly. Why was it always so difficult to talk openly around Nico? He was afraid of admitting his feelings. He was afraid. He could only think that his confession would scare Nico away forever.

"Well," said Nico. He hesitated. Then, he regarded Will with a level gaze. The skeletal butterflies in his stomach came back. They had started fluttering around the moment that Will had said he was glad Nico had stayed. Nico was pretty sure that his face was red. "I realized that there _are_ people worth staying for."

Nico paused. "You were right," he said with a sigh. He looked pointedly at Will, as though to say '_pay attention to what I__'m going to say next_.' Nico shook his head inwardly. The idea of him giving advice to Will was ludicrous. "I also realized that belonging doesn't mean fitting in."

Nico smiled. It was small, but it was a smile all the same. The way that the corners of his lips turned up made Will's heart flutter. "I should have learned that long ago," he said, "but I was too busy dwelling on my pain to make any sense of it."

Nico looked Will in the eye. "I'll never fit in," he said, with a conviction fitting of only someone that was completely convinced of what he was about to say, "I'm a son of Hades, after all."

Nico laughed. "But then again…" he said, with a smile, "Then again fitting in was never really a Nico di Angelo kind of thing.

Perhaps, as a demigod, hoping for a moment's peace was too much. Nico had been wishing that the rest of his stay in the infirmary would be more or less smooth and restful. He should have known better than to tempt the Fates.

The very next day, Nico woke up clawing at his neck for air. His dreams had plunged him right back into the depths of Tartarus. Only, this time, Tartarus himself was not drawing him in. In the dream, Nico had gone to Tartarus willingly. He couldn't remember, for the life of him, why he had done such a stupid thing. Gods knew why he did it. He certainly didn't. Not in that dream.

Tartarus, or at least the dream-Tartarus was like the fields of punishment, only infinitely worse. The torment that he had endured in the dream had been unending. It had felt like an eternity, the time he spent in Tartarus while he had been asleep.

Monsters that Nico had killed, all of them led by Bryce Lawrence, who now looked like an unholy amalgamation of shade and man stitched together in a chaotic, haphazard way that only a mad seamstress could do.

In the beginning, Nico's friends had been with him. The Seven had been there. Hazel. Percy. Jason. Piper. Frank. Leo. Annabeth. His sister. Then, in a twist that had shocked him, Will was there, too. As he lay there, eyes frantically darting around the room, trying desperately to breathe normally, the reason for his visit to Tartarus returned to him. His friends had been captured.

The most difficult part of the dream to remember, for him, was the time that all of the others had been dragged away. The girls had gone first, kicking and screaming, and struggling fruitlessly against their bonds and their captors. Their screams rang into the darkness for some time, before they fell quiet.

Then Leo was taken, silent, but with eyes bulging with fear. Frank went next. His head was bowed in submission. Hazel was gone already. Her screams long dead in the darkness of the Pit. Frank saw no reason to fight anymore.

Percy was dragged away. He was kicking his captor, trying to get some purchase to get away and save them all. He never got the chance. In the distance, far away from what they could see, Nico, Will, and Jason only heard Percy's shouts, then his screams, then his broken pleas for it to stop, then his inconsolable sobbing.

When Percy finally went quiet, they came for Jason. Nico had managed to get his throat open enough to breathe, but as soon as he thought about what had been done to Jason in front of him, his lungs refused to work. He gasped fro breath and desperately drove the thought of Jason's fate out of his head.

After a while, when Jason's battered, abused, and violated body had been dragged away to gods know what, only Nico and Will were left in the enveloping darkness.

Nico remembered that Will had looked absolutely terrified. He could not find it in himself to fault the dream-Will for feeling that way. He had felt the exact same way, but, through some bizarre twist of fate, he had managed to find the strength to keep himself brave enough for the both of them. For some time, at least.

Nico remembered facing Bryce Lawrence defiantly, with all his fire and gusto, up until the point that the son of Orcus revealed that Tartarus had granted him special powers. All the fight had melted from Nico when using those same powers, Bryce did to him what he had done to the Roman.

Nico felt the utter anguish of being turned into a shade, the pain of being stripped of his identity and being made into a faceless ghost. He had thought it would be his end, but Tartarus had not wanted to let go of his little plaything just yet. The Pit regenerated him.

Returned to his body and sanity, Nico had to watch as the same was done to Will. He remembered feeling like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Will had never come back, unlike him. The pain of that loss had been sharp. It had been unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Nico had found it increasingly difficult to endure the dream from that point on, but he had no choice but to do so. He endured in the hope that maybe he could free himself and rescue his friends from whatever dark fate Tartarus had in store for them. The opportunity never came.

Nico died many times. Tartarus always brought him back with utter disregard for the laws of life and death. Death was, in the Pit, a reminder only of more torment to come, and never sweet relief. The last time, before Nico had woken up, his lungs had been punctured by some Pompeiian ghosts who laughed as he drowned in his own blood, and his flesh turned to ashes.

It had been enough for his mind and body. He had woken up soon after.

It took a while, but eventually, Nico managed to calm down. His breathing returned to normal. He blinked the sleep and panic from his eyes, but the scene that greeted him was so strange that he thought, for a moment, that he was still dreaming.

Will stood at the foot of his bed. The son of Apollo's eyes were wild and they darted around the room. Nico flinched when he saw a skeleton rise from a rift in the floor that had not been there when he fell asleep the previous night. Will cut the damn thing down with a single, graceful stroke.

"Will…" said Nico. His voice was croaky. He felt completely drained of energy. He looked down at himself and noticed, with great alarm, that he was beginning to fade again. "Will…" he said, "What's going on?"

Will spun around where he stood and fixed Nico with bloodshot eyes. "What's going on," said Will, "is that apparently, when you fall asleep, you forget all about not using any more Underworld-ly magic!" Nico looked at Will. He knew that the words had probably been meant in jest, but they came out far more scathingly than Will had intended.

Nico winced at the anger in Will's voice.

"I havne't slept all night, because there has been a new skeleton out here every three minutes and forty-three seconds," said Will, baring his teeth as another skeleton came out of the ground right on time. "You want to know why I know that?" asked Will. "Because I've been up all night fighting them!"

Will looked unreasonably angry. Nico felt somewhat afraid of the healer's ire, but somehow, he knew that the anger wasn't directed primarily at him.

Will turned to face Nico again. His expression softened as he walked closer to the son of Hades. "You're fading on me again," said Will, brilliant blue eyes boring into Nico's own dark ones, "di Angelo…" There was a fear and concern in Will's voice that Nico couldn't quite place.

Why did Will care so much? Nico didn't understand. He didn't _want_ to entertain the notion that maybe Will thought of him as more than a friend. Will flashed him a smirk, though Nico could still see the concern in Will's eyes. "I remember saying that such a thing wouldn't happen under my watch!" said Will.

Nico shot back a half-hearted smile. He took a deep breath. He gathered what little strength he could spare before summoning his will and powers to close the rift in the floor of the infirmary. Nico looked at the Celestial Bronze blade in Will's hands, and said, just barely able to croak the words out, "W-where did you get that sword?"

Will looked at Nico, then at the blade. He dropped the sword, kicked it under Nico's bed and ran over to Nico's side. Nico wasn't sure if it was just the weariness, or if he was hallucinating, but he could have sworn that there were tears in Will's eyes.

Nico looked down at his body, and realized that perhaps his current state of affairs was indeed something worth crying about. He was fading again. Badly. Nico threw his head back. It would have been so easy to have just given up then and there, given in to the darkness that was swirling at the edges of his consciousness, end the miserable existence that being a child of the gods had forced upon him. Yet, despite all his despair, despite all his desire to be free of his burdens, something stopped Nico.

"You're fading," said Will, nearly growling with anger, "And you ask about the fucking sword?" With uncharacteristic viciousness, Will grabbed Nico's arm. He tried, at least. His hand passed right through twice before he finally managed to get a grip on Nico.

Will's mind was a war-zone. He closed his eyes and channelled all his anger, all his fear that he might lose Nico forever to the darkness that dwelt within the other boy, into the healing light that surged from his hands. Thick tendrils of golden light erupted from Will's open palms, wriggling in the air before wrapping around Nico's prone body. Chiron, who was standing with a concerned look by the doorway had to shield his eyes from the sheer intensity of the golden light.

The brilliance had wrapped Nico in a pulsing, regenerative cocoon of golden light. It didn't last very long. It beat three times, like Will's heart in his chest, before it dissipated into golden flecks that danced into the cool morning draft like embers from a campfire.

Nico looked down at himself and was surprised to find that he was no longer on the brink of fading. He still felt somewhat detached. He still felt absolutely exhausted. At the very least, he no longer felt as though he would disappear into the shadows at the slightest provocation.

Will looked at Nico and smiled briefly at his handiwork before the strength left his legs and he sagged against the bed. Will was barely able to keep himself upright, but fortunately, he managed to catch himself on the nearby chair. He pulled himself into the seat with great difficulty. "Oh, by the way, just in case you wanted to know," said Will, voice burdened with fatigue, "It started right after you fell asleep. Andrew was still in here. I had him get the sword and evacuate the other patients."

Nico looked at Will. He was barely able to manage turning his head in the direction of the son of Apollo. "You fought them all alone?" asked Nico, incredulous but weak.

"Yeah," managed Will, after catching his breath. "Hard to believe, huh?" he said. Nico shook his head slowly from side to side. He was, actually, more surprised that Will had not instead decided to call for more capable help.

"Well," admitted Will, "Percy and Jason actually came." Nico couldn't help but smile at the thought. It was still strange, having someone genuinely worried about him, but he found it heartwarming that the two boys would come to his aid. "I threw them out," said Will, matter-of-factly.

Nico gawked at the son of Apollo. "You are _my_ patient and _my_ responsibility," said Will, smirking at the look of disbelief on Nico's face. A faint blush crept into the son of Hades' cheeks. "Besides," said Will, "It's not like I was overrun or anything."

Nico felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach once again. A thousand skeletal butterflies, beating their wings all at once. Never before had Nico wanted to tear out his own guts more than he did at that moment.

Even so, Nico couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. He looked around, no longer frantic, and realized that it was probably already the middle of the day. "Not really hard to believe," said Nico, with sincerity. He wanted to help Will's self-esteem, after all. "Admirable, actually," he admitted.

"Stupid, too," said Nico, managing a weak smirk, "but that's to be expected."

Will frowned at Nico and feigned offence. "Hey!" he said, pouting, before grinning broadly at Nico. Chiron's face brightened considerably, seeing the look on Nico's face. He turned away to give the two demigods a chance to talk in private.

There was a long moment of silence. "Three days are up, Solace. I'm leaving…" said Nico after a while. The words hung in the air before Nico realized that he should probably clarify what he meant. The horror-stricken look on Will's face said it all. "The infirmary," he said, sheepishly, "not the camp."

A look of relief washed over Will's face before his expression turned stern. "You are doing—" Will stifled a yawn. "—no such thing, di Angelo," he said. "You were fading just a few minutes ago and now you want me to release you from the infirmary?"

Nico looked at Will as though the answer to that question was the most obvious thing in the world. Will scowled at him.

"I promised three days," managed Nico, slipping as much defiance as he could into his voice, "And three days are up." Nico tried to rationalize his insistence on the fact that when he had a nightmare like that again—it wasn't even a question of if he would—he didn't want to risk anyone else's life.

At least, Nico told himself, in the Hades cabin, he would be alone. "I'm going," said Nico, his voice firm, "You can't stop me." Nico looked down at Will, whose eyes were beginning to droop shut. "I don't think you're in any state to do that anyway," he said.

Will pitched dangerously forward. He caught himself just in time, before his face smacked into the side of the bed. "You're not going…" said Will. He stifled another big yawn. "Doctor's orders…" he said. Nico frowned. "And you couldn't even stand up if you wanted to, so you're not going anywhere until I let you…"

"I'm leaving," said Nico, defiantly, "That's that." Will shrugged. Nico tried to push himself off the bed, but quickly discovered that he really couldn't do so much as move a muscle properly, much less get the leverage he needed to get off the bed.

Nico grunted and tossed back his head. Great. Just… _great._ He looked across the bed at Will, half-expecting a sarcastic remark, or even an '_I told you so_.' Instead, it never came. Will seemed to have dozed off. His head was lying on top of his arms folded on the side of the bed.

Nico jumped, startled, when Will sputtered awake. Nico mused that Will just never gave up. "And when I _do_ discharge you," said Will, half-asleep, and already falling back into slumber, "I'm going to stay with you at your cabin for further monitoring in case things get bad again. No ifs or buts about it…"

Nico frowned, but he more dreaded what was coming next, because it seemed as though he was powerless against those two particular words. "Doctor's orders." Nico rolled his eyes, but knew that he had no choice in the matter.

It only dawned on Nico that Will was more asleep than awake when the healer suddenly thought out loud. "You've been taking care of yourself and others for so long…" drawled Will through lidded eyes, "Let me take care of you this time."

Those words sent fire surging through Nico's veins, and made his face feel as though it would spontaneously combust. His heart skipped a beat like it had done so many times already in the space of three days. Nico had to wonder if this whole Will Solace thing would cause him permanent cardiac damage.

In the moment before Nico drifted off, when the barriers around his mind fell away, he mused to himself that he wouldn't mind permanent cardiac damage if he had a doctor like Will around. In the moment after, when the shock of that thought brought him back to full wakefulness, Nico berated himself.

Nico could only remain awake for so long. The weariness finally caught up to him. Nico slipped into the land of dreams, and, for the second time since coming to the infirmary, under the watchful eye of Will Solace, Nico di Angelo found a sleep that was undisturbed by dreams of Tartarus.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So. There we go. The conclusion of _Three Days in Darkness_. I hope you liked it. And I hope it ended on a hopeful enough note for you folks that are more optimistic than I am.

Needless to say, the series only goes deeper and deeper into the angst territory from here on out. If you want to stop here and dwell only on the happy future that Nico and Will might have, then you're free to do so. If, however, you are a masochist and want to see the rest of the story that I have crafted play out, then you'll have to follow me as an author and watch out for the thrilling sequel to _Three Days in Darkness_, entitled _No Mercy for the Storm_.

As always, I would love it if you could leave a favourite, or leave a review! It's the best way to get an author motivated, and as I was talking about earlier, I was having motivational problems with writing the series. So, there we go. Also. Drop by my tumblr at .com and leave me questions if you'd like to know anything about me. I'd love to answer them, and I will do so as truthfully as I can. 3.


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